Familiar Faces
by OfficialEzrianxX
Summary: There's a new girl in Mr. Fitz's class. And she looks strikingly similar to a certain little lady who was whisked away from his life all too quickly.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys! Thank you for choosing to read my story, haha. I have another story also in progress so if you want to check that out also, that would be awesome! Happy reading ;p**

_"Mom, Dad, there's something that I need to tell you." Aria whimpered as she ushered Ella and Byron into the living room. She clutched her stomach worriedly as she stood in front of her parents, awaiting to tell them the shattering news._

_"What is it sweetheart?" Ella asked, clearly confused and oblivious as to why her daughter looked so distressed. Aria gulped and took a deep breath._

_"Mom, Dad. I'm pregnant..." Aria looked over to the wall, as if something there had fascinated her. She couldn't bear to see her parents shocked and disappointed expressions. "And it's Ezra's," She coughed out. Ella and Byron's faces only further looked more shocked. She was expecting an outburst from both her parents but was only greeted with a painful silence._

_"Say something, please." Aria pleaded, still keeping her eyes on the wall._

_"Does Ezra know?" Her mother was the first person to speak. Aria was still shocked that her father wasn't already in his car to go beat the crap out of him._

_"Yeah, I told him yesterday." Aria finally had the courage to look both her parents in the eyes. "I'm keeping the baby. No questions asked."_

_"Aria, you're 16." Her father fumed, finally finding some words._

_"I know. But I'm not killing it or putting it up for adoption. Those are not options." She stressed, placing her hands protectively around her stomach._

_"Go upstairs Aria, your father and I need to talk." Ella said as she motioned to the stairs. Aria nodded and bolted to her room to call Ezra._

"We cant have that poor child living around that... man!" _Her dad thundered._ "And she's determined to keep it!"

"Byron, please. I know that you're angry but we need to be rational for a moment and think about what's best for Aria and her baby. Not fuming about who the father is." _Aria's eyes filled up with tears, she didn't want to have her child living without it's child. The fact that they both detested him didn't help anything. She took a deep breath, stress wasn't good for the baby. She lied down on her bed and hoped and prayed that things would be smoothed over when she awoke. _

**_LINEBREAK_**

_"Aria, get up." Byron boomed, shaking her to get her awake. Aria stirred in her bed and looked over at the time. _4 am_._

_"Dad, why are you waking me up so early?" His face remained solemn as he relayed the news to Aria._

_"We have a plane to catch, Aria. Get up." And with that, he left her room. She sprung out of bed and scrambled around for her phone to call Ezra and the girls but couldn't find it anywhere._

_"Mom, Dad. Where's my cellphone?" Aria whined, bolting down the stairs._

_"Nonexistent. At least for now." Ella said with no emotion. "Your bags are already in the car. Go get Mike for us."_

_"Where are we going?!" Arias eyes began to fill up with tears. How could they just plan to leave without telling her before, and take her phone away from her."_

_"We're going back to Iceland. For your baby to be born and raised. He or she will not be raised around a pedophile." Her father spat coldly with a grimace. "Now go get Mike."_

**12 Years Later**

"Mom! Where are my jeans!?" Callie yelled, quickly padding down the stairs.

"They're in the laundry room on the racks, Sugarbug." Aria chuckled at her rushed, impatient daughter. She sighed as she slowly walked around her old Rosewood home, unopened boxes still littered the living room floor. Much to her parents dismay, she had moved and Callie back to Rosewood before she started 7th grade. Everyday, Callie reminded her and looked more like Ezra, her birth father, everyday. Her ocean blue eyes flashing her back to the good old days she had spent with him. And her wavy hair reminding her of the way his dark curls felt when she ran her nimble fingers through them.

"Ugh, Mom why is your hair so perfect and straight and mine is a pain to get tame every morning. I've never seen you straighten your hair." Aria laughed softly as she watched her daughter straighten strands of her dark brunette hair.

"You can blame your father for that, Cal." Callie rolled her eyes and shut off the iron as she finished up.

"The father that has missed out on 12 years of my life," She sighed.

"I know, but he loves you know matter what. Even if he doesn't really know you, he knows your here on this Earth." Aria condoled, hugging her small daughter. "Oh gosh, look at the time. You better catch the bus before it leaves." Aria rushed, glancing down at the clock beside Callie's bed. Callie swung her backpack over her shoulder and took one last glance at her mom.

"How do I look?"

"Beautiful as always, now go!"

**Ezra's POV**

I walked into Rosewood Middle School, where I'd be teaching this year. Nostalgia hitting me again and again with each step I took. 12 years without Aria. 12 years without even hearing about her or the baby she had, my baby. I missed out on 12 years of her life, and I'll probably never be able to make it up to her. Nor will I probably ever hear from Aria again. The girls had told me that her family had again moved back to Iceland for the baby to be raised without it's father. It hurt more than anything to know that her parents hated me so much, they thought the baby would be better off without it's father. I don't even know if the baby was a girl or boy, all I know is that today, he or she would again be starting a new milestone in his or her life that I wouldn't be able to celebrate with.

I stepped up to my room, A26. I grumbled and sat down in the leather chair behind the desk and took out the homeroom list I got from the office. I started reading through the names when one particular one caught my eye. _Jessica Lazorchak, Benjamin Maccarick, Callie Montgomery. __**Montgomery**_. That surname made my heart race, but I shook the feeling off. Montgomery was a semi popular last name, right? There's no way she could be related to Aria. Besides, she's hundreds of miles away in Iceland.

I heard the shrill bell ring and students began to file in for homeroom. I watched as each one walked in and tried to figure out which one was Callie. _Why am I doing this?_ That was when a small girl appeared at the door. She looked down at her schedule and then back at me.

"This is Mr. Fitz's room?" I picked up that she spoke with a slight Nordic accent.

"Yes, this is. Please take a seat. I think every one is here so I'll begin a roll call." I nodded and studied my class list again, "Isabella, Anthony, Charley, Angelo..." I listened to the chorus of 'heres' when I called each name but stopped for a second when I reached her name. "Callie?" The small girl who was at the door before, snapped her head up from her book and raised her hand.

"Here, Mr. Fitz." I nodded and continued the attendance. I shot quick glances at her and stopped short when I realized the striking similarities between her and Aria._ No it can't be, it's just a coincidence._ I cleared my throat to get the kid's attentions.

"I'm Mr. Fitz, I teach English here. This is my first year here at Rosewood Middle School, though I used to teach at Rosewood Day. So don't think I can't handle trouble makers." I gave some of the boys a playful glare. They all just chuckled and I focused back on Callie, her blue eyes and her slightly wavy brunette hair, almost done just like Aria used to. I heard the bell sound again, telling us it time for first period. "Alright folks, i'll see you all soon for English, you're free to go." I kept a close eye on Callie as she exited the room. _One can only dream._


	2. Chapter 2

Ezra drummed his fingers on his desk, studying the class list for his fourth period. The period he had Callie. The coincidences were just piling up, her hair, her eyes, the slight native accent from where his daughter would have grown up, the last name. It was all too much. Was Aria really back? Could it actually be possible? She wouldn't move back here if she didn't want him to meet her, right? The bell shattered his train of thought and smiled warmly as the students began to file in and take their seats. He went over the class list one last time and gave the students a few moments to settle in. After they had all been seated, he stood up and wrote his name across the board.

"Alright kids. I'm Mr. Fitz." He spoke, slapping the board gently with his name written in his usual scrawl on it. "And I will be your English teacher for your year in 7th grade. Now, before I begin, do any of you have any questions?" The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop when no one raised their hands. "Alright then, take out your notebooks and write me a paragraph or two about yourself, tell me your name, hobbies, etcetera etcetera ... Anything you'd like to tell me about yourself. This will be your first grade of the marking period." He heard a chorus of groans fill the room and he rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Oh come on, it's not that bad. Begin!" He walked over to his desk and plopped down into the soft leather chair and went over his lesson plans for the next few days. After about 30 minutes he looked up and saw most students were done with there essays. He was about to speak before her heard a small female voice from the middle of the class.

"Did you see the new girl?" He heard one young girl snicker to another as she turned her eyes over to Callie, who was silently reading. "The one who just moved from another country?" Ezra picked up his eyes and strained his ears to listen to their conversation. He knew he shouldn't be doing this but it was most likely about Callie. He should take in as much information as he could gather about her before making any rash decisions. He heard a male voice interject into the girls conversations.

"My uncle told me about her mom when he found out that she was back. They used to date when she lived here. I overheard from him that Ms. Iceland over there doesn't have a dad because her mom fucked so many guys she can't remember which one is hers." The two girls erupted with laughter. Ezra frantically matched a name to a face and grimaced internally.

"Mr. Kahn," He spoke sternly, his jaw tightening. "I'd appreciate it if you took a seat and shut your mouth." He regretted the words as soon as they left his lips. He had been a little too harsh with his words, but he wouldn't let him talk that way about Aria and get away with it. His suspicions were finally confirmed. This was the Callie, his Callie.

He watched as the boy slunk down in his seat and hung his head in shame.

"Yes, Mr. Fitz." Ezra looked over at Callie and saw her head was turned towards the window, she blinked rapidly to wash away tears before looking back towards him. Ezra cleared his throat and looked up at his class

"You guys can stop writing now." He got up and walked to the front of his desk, leaning up against the edge of it.

"Would any of you like to share your essays?" Ezra was a bit disappointed when Callie didn't raise her hand. But he couldn't exactly blame her, she just moved from a new country to an entirely different life style and new kids to get to know. He let a few kids talk about themselves and Ezra was pleased to see that he had a few good writers on his hands. The bell, that now seriously annoyed Ezra, abruptly rang once more and all the students began to pack up.

"Everyone turn in your essays to me on you're way out and have a great rest of your first day!" All the kids quickly rushed up to give him their essays and hurried out the door.

"Ms. Montgomery, can I borrow a moment of your time?" A sudden wave of sadness rushed over him as the words came out of his mouth, Callie's head whipped around and she nodded as she nervously walked over to him.

"Yes, Mr. Fitz?" Ezra cleared his throat and thought for a moment. He didn't know why he asked her to stay behind when she didn't even know who he was.

"I just wanted to let you know that i'm here if you need anyone to talk to." He gulped nervously, hoping she didn't notice. "I realize that coming from a new country is hard and not everyone here can be so... _welcoming_," He watched as her face fell slightly and internally cursed himself for his choice of words. "But I just wanted to let you know that okay? You're free to go. Have a good rest of your day."

"You too Mr. Fitz."He heard her say softly as she exited his room. Ezra then rushed to his pile of newly written papers and searched for Callie's anxiously.

_"My name is Callie Rose Montgomery, i'm 12 years old and I originally moved here from Iceland. My mom said she lived here in Rosewood before she moved with my grandparents and my uncle to Iceland. I never really grew up with a father figure in my life, besides my mom's old ex boyfriend back in Iceland. But to be honest, I never really considered him my dad or anything even near that, seeing as though he only saw me as a burden between him and my mom." _

**Callie's POV**

_Why did Mr. Fitz seem so anxious when he asked to talk to me? It was almost as if he regretted it._ I quickly rushed out of his room and went to my locker to put my books away.

"Hey, Iceland!" I froze in fear as I heard that voice and footsteps behind it. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" I kept my face focused on the inside of my locker and tried not to drag attention to myself or give them what they wanted. Suddenly I felt someone grab my shoulder and whip me around to face them. I realized it was that boy who made a snappy comment about my mom, followed by the two other girls he was talking to.

"What did Mr. Fitz want to talk to you about, huh? Taking after your mom as the teacher's pet?" The two girls behind him scoffed and giggled at his comment. A menacing smile grew on his face as he pulled me back from my locker then shoved me back against it. The girls hooted as he went out on me. He started kicking me in the shins to knock me to ground, my vision began blurry as he pulled me up and slammed me back into the locker and left me there to slink onto the floor.

"Who the fuck lit a fire in your tampon?" I coughed with a sardonic smile, the boy whipped his head around with a shocked look on his face.

"Better watch your smart mouth, Montgomery. The next thing coming out of it will be blood if you don't shut it." I didn't noticed what he did until I felt it, his bulky sneaker made a direct contact with my stomach. I sputtered and coughed as I was pressed up harder against the locker from his powerful blow. "Watch your smart mouth, got it?" He forcefully blew air out of his nose like a bull and kept a close eye on me as he walked away. I sat on the floor of the empty hallway until I heard footsteps coming down towards me.

"Callie?" I heard a familiar voice call. _Mr. Fitz._ Perfect, the thing I _totally_ needed was more sympathy from him. "Cal- Oh my god are you alright?" I looked up at him and nodded, I raised my hand up to my face and felt liquid streaming down from it, _blood. _Great. I got myself up and gave him a solemn nod. "What happened to your face? Do you need to go to the nurse?"

"Mr. Fitz, i'm fine. Spontaneous nose bleed is all," I lied. He seemed not to buy it but nodded anyway.

"If those kids are bothering you I can-"

"I don't need your sympathy or your help. I'm fine taking care of myself." I snapped, I didn't mean to be so harsh but I also didn't want him hovering around me like I needed to be protected. He seemed generally shocked and hurt to hear those words. I impulsively turned around and ran toward the bathrooms as fast as my legs could carry me, not caring about how much they hurt.


	3. Chapter 3

The rest of the school day seemed to drag on forever. Daniel Kahn definitely didn't help when she came into History with a mockingly confident smile. When the last bell rang, Callie was more than eager to get out the door. She hastily shoved everything in her bag and ran out the door to her bus. Of course, she reconciled about the day on her way home. Sitting alone at lunch, being beaten up by kids she barely knew, and Mr. Fitz. What in the world was so odd about him that Callie couldn't put her finger on?

"Sugarbug, How was your first day of school?" Aria asked cheerily as Callie came through the door. Aria peered up from her laptop to look at her less than enthusiastic daughter.

"I wanna go home..." Callie groaned, tossing her backpack next to the door and going upstairs, barely making eye contact with her mother. Aria sighed, knowing this would happen. She walked upstairs and knocked on her teenager's door.

"Come in, mom." Aria opened the door to find Callie laying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. It was then that Aria noticed a few bruises on her arms.

"Callie, are you-"

"No mom, someone just tripped me in gym today. I'm fine really." Callie reassured with a small smile. "But I want to go home..." Aria sighed and sat down next to her.

"Sweetheart, we are home."

"No. You're home." Callie sprung up from her bed with an aggravated sigh and shrugged on a sweatshirt. "I'm going for a walk."

"Callie, it's gonna rain-" Aria started, but she was already out of ear shot before the words left her mouth.

Callie walked down the bustling streets of Rosewood, taking in the sights and the sounds of the new town she was now forced to call home. She stood in front of a small building called The Brew for a minute before going inside. She purchased a small tea and sat inside in a small booth next to the window. Her phone buzzed from inside her pocket, jolting her away from her thoughts.

_Ana: "so how's The States?_" Callie smiled brightly and tears perked up. She missed her best friend Anastasia so much. They were both devastated to learn that Callie was moving hundreds of miles away.

Callie: "Trust me, it sucks over here. It's not like all the hype people say it is."

_Ana: "whys that?"_

Callie: "Everyone here are just a bunch of jerk offs. There's nothing very interesting either."

_Ana: "I'm sure things will pick up soon Cal :) I got to go. Bless"_

Callie sighed and looked out the window, dark heavy clouds were starting to cover the once bright blue sky. She sat in the booth alone, watching the rush of customers come in and out of the store. As the sky began to get dark, Callie picked up her stuff and walked out the door. She wasn't expecting the sudden rush of cold wind that hit her as she continued walking down the now empty, dark streets. The storm clouds hovered over her, quickly swallowing up the last bit of light from the sun and replacing it with hard rain.

"Just perfect." Callie said sarcastically as she pulled up the hood of her sweatshirt over her head. She continued to walk down the road. It became harder and harder to see as it continue it's downpour. Callie contemplated on calling her mom to pick her up, but she could get hurt, if Callie could barely see, no one on the road would be able to. Callie's clothes became completely soaked as she trekked uncomfortably through the rain until she heard a male voice call her name from the distance.

"Who in the hell?" She whispered. She saw a car pull up next to her and the man looked at her as he rolled down his windows._ Mr. Fitz._ Again, just perfect.

"Callie, get in." He ordered. Callie froze for a moment. This was wrong. She couldn't get in her teacher's car. She didn't need a guardian angel of a teacher to swoop in and save her like a damsel in distress. Fuck it, she was soaked and could barely see. Callie bolted into his car and sat down in the passengers seat, shivering as she rolled herself into a tight, sopping ball in the seat.

"What were you doing out there?" He asked, not taking his eyes off the road as if he could see out his own window.

"I was at the c-coffee shop down the road and as I was walking home it s-started to downpour."

"Why didn't you call your mom?" He turned his head slightly to face her as he asked his question.

"I don't want her driving in this weather. Potentially getting hurt." Mr. Fitz nodded understandingly and groaned as he struggled to see outside his front window.

"I hope you don't mind staying at my apartment for a little while. I don't think this is going to clear up and I can barely see."

Staying at my teacher's apartment, alone. Being in his car, alone. This whole situation was screaming wrong. But what choice did she have? What was she going to say, no?

"Yeah, sure." She stuttered. Callie laid her head against the window of the car, watching the raindrops come down fast and hard, sounding like someone was tapping the window with a hammer with each drop that came down. Mr. Fitz pulled into the parking spot closest to the entrance to the apartment. Callie gathered her sweatshirt from her lap and sat up.

"Ready?" He asked. Holding the handle to his door. Callie nodded, holding on to her's, bracing herself for the harsh rain.

"Go!" Mr. Fitz called, quickly pushing his door outward and sprinting to the doorway of the apartment, Callie close behind him. They both walked up the stairs until they reached the door to his apartment, 3B.

"Well, here we are, finally." Ezra said, muttering the last word as he pushed the door open and let Callie in first. He watched with am amused smile as she silently marveled at his extensive books and old movie collection. Ezra rushed over to his dresser and pulled out a sweatshirt and a pair of plaid pajama pants.

"Here Callie, change into these. I'm not gonna make you sit in wet clothes." He handed the clothes to her and pointed to the bathroom. She nodded and silently walked away. Suddenly he heard a small voice come from the bathroom.

_"Hey mom...Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just at a friend_s." Ezra chuckled at her lying to her mother, reminded him of when him and Aria had to sneak around and she had to lie to protect them both.

"Just like her mother." He whispered to himself. He decided to start a pot of tea for her, she must have been freezing.

"_Don't worry, I'm safe... No no no, please don't drive in this weather. Okay, bye mom. Love you too._" He heard the clicking of the lock on the door and the sound of small footsteps on the hardwood floors. He turned around to her just leaning on the wall frame, looking intently at her phone with her bottom lip trapped between her teeth.

"Y-you can sit on the couch if you'd like." Callie looked up at him and nodded, quietly padding over to his couch and sitting down with a small huff.

"How long do you think I need to stay here." Following Callie's question, a large clap of thunder rang though the tiny apartment, startling both of them.

"Until I-or your mom are able to drive you back home." He answered, pouring the tea in two mugs and looking back at her. "What do you like in your tea?"

"I take it black, thanks." He nodded, slightly surprised she didn't take anything, and walked over to the couch. He groaned quietly as he sat down and cleared his throat.

"We're obviously going to be here for a while, and I don't want you to feel awkward around me. So let's get to know each other to pass the time." He smiled, not knowing how much longer he could bear being in the same room as his daughter, whom didn't know that the man sitting next to her was the missing link in her family tree. "I have a question that's I've been itching to know, before you start." Callie nodded and waited for him to ask. "What happened today at school, I'm not stupid enough to believe that what happened to you was just '_a spontaneous nosebleed'_." Callie froze and took a tentative sip of her tea, breaking her gaze with her English teacher and taking a huge breath.

"Those kids who were tormenting me during your class. The boy, I don't know his name, he came up behind me and started shoving me against my locker repeatedly and saying things about my family that I really didn't understand. I tried to say something snarky back, but he got angry and just shoved me again and kicked me in the stomach till I fell down. The girls with him just stood around me and laughed." Ezra sat there stunned, he was so ready to jump in his car and beat the crap outta Daniel Kahn for treating Callie, his daughter, that way.

"What kinds of things did he say about your family?" Ezra was scared to find out what she had heard, scared about what those kids had put in her head.

"He said something like 'what were you talking to Mr. Fitz about? You're turning into a teacher's pet just like your mom eh?' don't know what that means but it made me so angry." She looked up at him to see him looking shell-shocked. She didn't know what it meant, but if she found out his big secret, she'd know soon enough. He wanted to her to know about him. He wanted to be in her life, but how would she react to how things worked out? The real reason that her mother was force to pack up and move her to Iceland.

"I-I don't know either, Callie. But don't believe a word that comes out of that kids mouth. I knew his uncle and he was nothing but bad news." She nodded understandingly and took more sips of her drink, curling up tighter in his sweatshirt. Almost like Aria used to. All of a sudden, the lights blew out and the apartment was dark and only lit slightly by the small, periodic strikes of lightning. Ezra shot up from the couch and grabbed a lighter and went around the apartment lightning up candles to illuminate the apartment a little bit.

"There we go." He said, placing the lighter on the coffee table and sitting back down. There was a pregnant silence between the student and teacher before one broke.

"So, what are your hobbies?" She asked out of the blue, her mesmerizing ocean colored eyes boring into his as she looked up at him. He looked over at her a little strangely before clearing his throat.

"I like to read and write, obviously, I wouldn't be a English teacher if I didn't." He chuckled, "Hmmm, I tried to learn the guitar, but that never worked out." Callie giggled and looked over to his desk, where an acoustic guitar leaned.

"I can play, but you already knew that I guess. If you read my essay you assigned us." She said, walking over to the guitar and picking it up, strumming a few chords before frowning. It was horribly out of tune.

"I'm guessing you haven't played in a while." Ezra nodded and she quickly tuned the instrument before sitting back down and trying again.

"Sing for me." Callie looked up at him, a little shocked. She was self conscious about her singing and rarely sang in front of anyone, fearing judgement. "You also said in your essay that you loved singing. I'd like to see those vocal chords put to work." He smiled, "But only if you're okay with that." She sat on the couch, speechless for a moment. Wracking her brain for a good song she knew all the words and chords to. She smiled as she thought of one and started strumming lightly on the strings.

_"When I was younger I saw my daddy cry and curse at the wind. He broke his own heart and I watched as he tried to reassemble it. And my momma swore that she would never let herself forget. And that was the day I promised, I'd never sing of love if it does not exist. But darlin' you are the only exception. Yeah you are the only exception. You are the only exception..._"

Ezra sat there stunned once more, this girl had a beautiful voice. And the song she was singing was wonderful and slightly familiar. He knew that he needed to see Aria as soon as possible. He could barely hold the secret in. He just wanted to hold their petite bodies in his arms and make up for all the lost time.

**XD i never know how to end chapters and i'm sorry. I desperately need to work on my endings! If you guys already didn't know, the song Callie was singing was The Only Exception by Paramore. And i also just wanted to inform you guys as a little tidbit of info about Callie, is that I modeled her personality a little bit after Violet Harmon from AHS. (love that show ;o) Thank you guys so much for reading and please keep reviewing and encouraging me to continue this story. 3**


	4. Chapter 4

Ezra had driven Callie home after the storm had cleared and it was safe. He made sure to drive away hurriedly so Aria couldn't see his car. His mind was reeling and he felt overwhelmed. He had just spent four amazing hours with his daughter. The only bad part to him was she had no idea. Ezra quickly grabbed his phone from the front console and dialed the only number he could think of at the moment.

"Spencer. You really need to come by apartment. I have some urgent news" Ezra had kept a close relationship with the girls after Aria left, but mostly with Spencer. Even though they were close, the relationship they had was strictly platonic, due to Ezra still being madly in love with Aria and Spencer now being married to Toby. Also by the fact that they were polar opposites and constantly quarreled about useless things.

_"Ezra,"_ Spencer whined. _"I'm a little busy right now..."_ Ezra groaned and spoke with more vigor in his voice.

"Trust me. This isn't me telling you I got a new job or a girlfriend. This is something you'll desperately want to hear."

_"Why can't you just tell me over the phone then?!"_ She snapped.

"Because, this is gonna be a long conversation. I could also need a lawyer's help depending on the circumstances."

_"You're lucky you stuck by me, Ezra. Really lucky._"

"Yes, yes I know. Now are you coming or what?" He parked into the lot of the apartment complex and made his way up to his room.

_"I'll be there in 20. See you soon Mr. Fitz."_ She teased.

"Ms. Hastings." He chuckled back and hung up before she could correct him. Ezra laid down on his couch and rubbed his temples. Reliving the few hours in a few second. Before he knew it, he heard a sharp knocking at his front door.

"Key's under the mat!" He yelled. Too tired to answer the door for her. Spencer bolted in and sat down next to his head. She had her hair tied up high into a bun with a few strands framing her face nicely.

"Get up! This better be important!" She yelled, slapping him across the face for him to sit up.

"Right, yeah. Spencer... Aria's back." He watched as Spencer's face contorted with emotions. Anger to confusion, to happiness, to shock.

"The child..." She started, looking up at Ezra for any sign of hurt or shock of his own.

"Callie, she's beautiful, smart, witty like her mother." Spencer saw the starry eyes look on his face. "But she has no idea I'm her father. Déjà vu honestly."

"Why's that?"

"I'm her teacher." Spencer's face looked horrified when the words came out of his mouth.

"D-does Aria know that you know? I mean, that you know about your daughter?" Ezra shook his head and ran his hands through his hair. He doubted Aria put his name on Callie's birth certificate. Her parents most likely didn't let her for 'the child's sake'. His burning hate for Byron Montgomery only grew more out of control. He nearly wanted to strangle the man when Hanna had told him that he made Aria move to another country with his baby. How could one person be so heartless?

"I haven't seen her at all. But I need to. Callie needs to know who her father is and I need to get my name on her birth certificate."

"How do you know it's not already on there." Ezra raised his eyebrow and shot Spencer a _'seriously?'_ look.

"I'm sure Byron doesn't want me within 100 feet of that child, nonetheless have my name on her birth certificate." Spencer nodded silently and sighed.

"Now I see why you called me here saying you might need a lawyer." She nibbled on her bottom lip as she thought. "I doubt Aria forgot about you and I can nearly guarantee that she is still in love with you, even if I haven't spoken to her in 10 years. Love like you guys had just doesn't go away. No matter how long you're separated or no matter how far away you might seem from each other." Ezra bobbed his head understandingly. Tears filled his eyes at the thought of Aria not loving him like she used to.

"Listen, I'll meet up with Aria and get the rest of the girls over so we can all see her. I'll make sure I, or one of the girls, brings you up and we'll go from there. Is that okay?" Spencer saw his eyes get puffy. "Stop crying. Okay?"

"Okay." He choked.

**LINEBREAK**

Aria was furiously typing on her computer when her phone started buzzing beside her. Her eyes widened when she saw the caller ID. _Spencer_. She cleared her throat and pressed the bright green answer button.

"S-Spencer."

_"A little birdie told me that my best friend is back in town!"_ She giggled happily on the other side.

"Spencer, I'm so happy to hear from you. I was thinking about calling you or one of the other girls but I got sidetracked..." She lied, scratching her neck. She had gotten held back, writing her draft for a book she was trying to get published. After leaving Iceland, Aria was out of a job and thought it would be a good idea to pursue her writing dream.

_"That's okay, Aria. I was wondering if it was okay if I invited the girls and we can all hang out at your place. Maybe meet your child for the first time."_ Spencer pushed. Aria glanced over at the clock. _12:32 pm_.

"Uh, sure. I'm currently living in my old house. Does 1:30 sound good? Cal comes back from school at 2:30.

_"Great! I'll call up Emily and Hanna. I'm so glad you're back, Aria. You've been gone far too long, bye now!_" And with that, Spencer hung up. Aria took a huge sigh and continued to write. She began to get a headache from staring at the glowing computer screen for too long and decided to take a break. Did Ezra know she was back? How was he going to react when he saw her and Callie? How was she going to explain everything to Callie? How would she react? All the thinking made Aria's head pound harder and she decided to take a power nap before the girls got here.

The loud rapping on the door woke Aria up from her small slumber. She looked at the clock across the room. _1:32_. She shot up from the couch and fixed her hair slightly before opening the door.

"Aria!" The three chorused. They all rushed in and attacked her with hugs. Tears filled the four girls eyes as they were reunited again after 12 years of being apart from Aria.

"Come on, come in." She ushered the girls in and sat them down on the couch. A few stray boxes were still strewn around the living room.

"Aria, how have you been. It's literally been ages since we last heard from you." Emily chirped. Aria sighed and looked around her old house.

"I've been okay. I started drafting a book and I'm gonna send it into a publisher when I'm done to see if they like it." The girls gushed over their friend's new pursuit and continued to ask 100+ more questions about Iceland and pregnancy and who knows what.

"How is the little girl? She would be 12 now, right?" Aria nodded and an idea popped into her head. She grabbed a box that was next to Hanna and rummaged through it until she found a light pink album with an adorable picture of Callie as a newborn.

"Oh my god! Awwww! When is she coming home?" Hanna squealed, taking the album from Aria's hands and beginning to marvel at each picture.

"She should be home in about half an hour." Aria's eyes pricked up with tears as she looked at a photo of Callie on her first day of preschool with Ella and Byron. Even at a small age, Callie was very independent. She didn't cry or even show a bit of separation anxiety when Aria had dropped her off. She had grown up so fast it seemed like the next time Aria blinked, Callie would be off to college.

"Does Ezra know about her?" Spencer's sudden question caused all the girls to stop what they were doing and look at Aria. Aria cleared her throat and shook her head, feeling her cheeks warm with guilt.

"No, I need to talk to him about what to do. I just can't spring this up on Callie. _'Oh here's your father whom you've never met but now he's here!_'" She rolled her eyes. All the girls picked their heads up as they heard a key being jiggled around in the door's lock and the creak of the old wooden door.

"Mom! I'm ho-..." Callie stopped short as she saw a bunch if women she didn't know crowded around Aria.

"Oh my god, she looks just like E-" Hanna started. Spencer clapped her hand over the blonde's mouth before she could say the last word.

"Sugarbug, this is Emily, Spencer, and Hanna. They're old friends of mine from when I used to live here." Callie gave a nonchalant wave to the girls.

"Come over here, Callie. We want to meet you for real. Not just in the pictures." Emily cooed, holding up a page of Callie's baby album, making her face turn beet red. She nodded and strode over the them. Sitting in the love seat next to her mother, curling up into her.

"You have your father's eyes, Callie." Emily's compliment made Callie's eyes light up with hope.

"Y-you knew him?" She looked at all Emily, Spencer, and Hanna with widened eyes before looking up at her mom. Aria nodded and rubbed Callie's shoulder affectionately. "What was he like? Mom's always vague when I bring him up."

"I'm vague for good reason, Bug." She gave her friends a pointed glare, warning them not to say too much about Ezra to Callie. Little did Aria know that Callie knew more about her father than she thought.

"He was very sweet, caring. You're mom an him were very in love." Spencer clarified. Aria shifted nervously as Callie and them spoke.

"Really? Poppy always said he was the reason I had to grow up in another country."

"Poppy?" Hanna said, cocking an eyebrow.

"Byron," Aria clarified. "He tried to get Callie to say 'grandpa' but all that came out was Poppy so it kinda just stuck." Callie's face turned more red than before.

"Tell me more about my dad. What did he look like?" Emily looked at Aria for confirmation that telling her was okay.

"He was tall with your stunning blue eyes and your hair." Callie chuckled lightly as she remembered her conversation with her mother on her first day of 7th grade. That was an interesting day. Mr. Fitz popped into her head. He was kinda her only friend here in Rosewood. After her run in with him and the storm yesterday, the two bonded over music and books and just had fun with each other in his apartment that evening. Of course, he was her teacher, nothing more.

**Thank you guys so much for reading! I'm going to have Aria and Ezra finally see each other in the next chapter and possibly make Callie find out the truth. Your reviews and suggestions REALLY help me improve with this story and I greatly encourage you to keep reviewing! I love each and every one of you :D **


	5. Chapter 5

"Cal, I'm gonna go out for a little while! I'll be back soon!" Aria yelled as she shrugged on her small black pea coat. She was going to go to Ezra's apartment. It was an out of the blue idea but they needed to see each other. The longer she waited, the bigger her guilt for the two of them became. Callie nodded in return as she continued to strum on her electric guitar.

Aria got into her car and contemplated calling Ezra before she arrived, but she didn't want him saying no to her so she put her phone down and started the engine. Spencer had informed her that Ezra still resided in his old apartment, so that was tonight's destination. Waves of nostalgia hit Aria as she drove down the dark roads of Rosewood, the only thing illuminating the roads were the dim street lights and the neon signs from stores. This was her home. Aria pulled into the parking lot and sat in her car in front of the complex, suddenly regretting her decision. What if he was angry at her? What if he already moved on and was married? Had kids with another woman? No, this was her decision. She wasn't going to keep putting this off. One way or another, the man living here was her baby girl's father. It didn't matter if he was married to some other woman or not; Blood is blood.

Aria walked up the stairs until she reached the third floor, apartment 3B. She took a large shaky breath and knocked on his door. Panic soon shot through her veins as she heard shuffling around the apartment and the sound of a clicking lock. A groggy Ezra Fitz answered the door, he rubbed his eyes before opening them fully. His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as he tried to regain focus. Was his mind playing tricks or was the love of his life standing right in front of him?

"Aria," He choked out. They both stood there in shock, not one of them knowing what to say. Out of impulse, he wrapped one arm around her back and pulled her tightly against his body. Sobs ripped through both their bodies as they both clung to each other as if their lived depended on it. As if, if he let go, she'd disappear again. She nosed around his neck, taking his his sweet, masculine scent again as she whispered his name over and over into his ear. He reluctantly pulled back and stared at Aria deeply, taking in every part of her gorgeous face.

"You have no idea how much I missed you. I-I thought i'd never see you again..." Ezra confessed, brushing his fingertips across the smooth skin of her cheeks. Aria reached up and smoothed over the tears that were streaming over Ezra's face. He certainly looked different. He looked more disheveled and the time they spent apart really took a toll on him.

"I thought about you, every second I was gone." Aria giggled, quoted what Ezra had said when he returned from New York during the storm in her junior year. Tears were streaming down her own cheeks as she reveled in the surreal feeling of being back in his welcoming arms. A massive weight was lifted off her shoulders when she saw how much he still loved her. She looked around the apartment and saw it was still as much of a bachelor pad as it was when they were together. He gave her a melancholic chuckle and embraced her once more before leading her over to the couch.

"This was some surprise." Ezra sniffled as he brought two glasses of water over for him and Aria. She nodded and took a delicate sip of the water.

"I came here not only for our sakes, but for our daughter's. The little girl Byron refused to grow up around you." Ezra nodded as he relived the heartbroken moment over 12 years ago.

"Y-yeah. About her... I know." Aria's eyes opened with shock but also a little bit of relief.

"Y-you do? That's great. But... How?" Ezra took a deep breath and reached over to take Aria's hand.

"I'm her teacher." He clarified with a slight grimace, knowing this would make for a more difficult situation than Aria had bargained for.

"Wow. I had no idea you were still teaching. I thought you'd still be teaching high school if anything." She licked her lips and sighed. Ezra smiled a little bit and looked up down at her hopefully.

"I still can't believe you're sitting right in front of me..." Aria nodded and rubbed her hands over Ezra's. "Aria, during an essay I had them do in class, Callie said that you had a boyfriend back in Iceland..."

"Oh my god, don't even mention him. I only dated him cause he looked nice and I thought that Callie would benefit from having a father figure in her life, besides Byron. He constantly hovered over that child like he was her actual father." Aria said, rolling her eyes in remembrance. Ezra nodded and let out a silent sigh of relief, knowing that Aria hadn't replaced him even for a short while. He placed his hand under her chin and lifted it up, making her look directly into his deep blue eyes.

"How are we going to make this work?" He whispered. He watched as the wheels in Aria's head spun and she furrowed her thick eyebrows in concentration.

"I know a way..."

* * *

Callie glanced over at the clock. 9:38. It's been over an hour since her mother left. What was there to do anyway? She already saw all of her old friends and the town isn't that big... Callie placed her guitar down and walked into the kitchen, where her mother's laptop was sitting on the kitchen island. She mischievously opened the laptop and saw there was no password required.

"Typical mom." She chuckled as the computer opened up to a document of a rough draft._ A Love Worth Waiting For_. Callie began to read the story, surprised that her mother chose to write a story like this. _"Maybe we met at the wrong time. It seemed as if the world was working against us, using everything the universe had to break us apart. Even though this looked wrong, it had always felt right._" Callie gathered that this story was about a forbidden love, Elijah and Abigail. The pair met in a book store and bonded over their love of old literature and music, only to find out a few days later that Elijah was Abigail's teacher. The book only stretched a few chapters long, which aggravated Callie. She knew her mother wouldn't let her read it when she did continue working on it.

"Callie, sweetheart! I'm home." Aria yelled from the door. Callie snapped the computer shut and walked over to her mother, embracing her lovingly.

"Where did you go? You were gone for a while." Aria tensed, looking for a quick answer.

"A few friends invited me to go out for a small 'welcome back dinner'." Callie nodded, sensing her mother's fibbing but knowing better than to call her out on it.

"I'm gonna go to bed. School is tomorrow." Callie sighed, pecking her mom on the cheek and walking upstairs to her room. Aria sighed in relaxation, knowing that Ezra still loved her and everything was going to be okay.

Aria had a plan, she really didn't know how Callie was going to react but she was going to have a long talk with her about her father and then bring Ezra in, hoping not to frighten or shock her. Ezra had not informed her about the day where he had picked her up in the storm and sheltered her until it died down. She had no idea about the friendly connection they already had with each other due to that day, and how that would effect her reaction. It was going to happen soon, she just needed to get everything fleshed out. Ezra was going to come over before it happened so she could talk to him and fill him in again. Aria was going to get her happily ever after, eventually.

* * *

Ezra was assigned to watch over the cafeteria during the seventh grader's lunch time. He thought it'd be a good time to talk to Callie, professionally of course. Much to his dismay, as he walked in, he saw the petite girl sitting alone, picking at a small tray of cafeteria pasta.

"Ms. Montgomery, you're looking a little lonely." Ezra chirped as strode over to her and sat down in a seat diagonal to hers. Callie picked her head up and look at her teacher with her wolf-like blue eyes.

"Oh... No I'm not lonely, Sir." Ezra again picked up her slight Nordic accent as she spoke. He gave her a small smile at the modesty in her words.

"Come on. I hate doing lunch duty and you look like you could use someone to be with. Let's go to my room." Callie cocked an eye brow at him and scoured the room for Daniel Kahn, knowing for sure if he caught her walking with Mr. Fitz, she'd never hear the end of it. Ezra knew what he was requested was far from professional but hell, he was her father. She just didn't know that yet.

"Okay..." She answered with a small voice. She pushed her chair back and grabbed her tray, following close behind Mr. Fitz as they walked the semi empty halls to his classroom. He unlocked the door and turned on the lights, letting Callie trail behind him. She sat down behind a desk near his desk and continued her shifting the most likely slightly under cooked pasta in its tray.

"Why did you do this?" Callie asked him, still not taking her eyes off her food. Ezra looked at her with confusion written all over his face.

"D-do what, exactly?"

"Pity me. You basically watch over me like some guardian angel, swooping in when ever I'm in need of help. The storm, Daniel... Right now." Her words ripped at his heart strings. He so badly wanted her to understand, to know why he was so possessive and watchful of her. But that would go against Aria's wishes and concerns. She had informed him about her bad reactions to fear and shock, including her inheritance of panic attacks from Aria.

"I've been in the position you have. Being the new kid, feeling self conscious and as if you don't belong where you are. The only difference between our experiences is I never had anyone, I just want to make sure you don't feel the way I did. It was not a good feeling." Callie nodded silently, suddenly stabbing a few pasta shells with her fork and shoveling them into her mouth. Ezra felt bad not telling her the real reason, he so badly just wanted to hold her in his arms and tell her everything.

"So Callie, how are you liking Rosewood? You've been here at least a good week." He placed his hands on his hips and stood up. Ezra leaned against his desk and stood in front of hers.

"It's alright I guess. Everyone seems nice except for a few people." She grumbled ruefully. Again, Ezra had the strong urge to wring out Daniel Kahn's neck.

"And taken that my only friend is my English teacher, it could be better."

"Oh really? I heard good things about that English teacher. I heard he's smart, witty..." He said with small smile.

"Hmph, I wouldn't believe everything you hear, Mr. Fitz. I heard he's a little full of himself" Callie answered with a confident smirk, picking her head up to meet eyes with him. Her comment only making his smile grow bigger.

"Very cheeky..." He chuckled. The piercing bell interrupted their amused glares at each other. Callie threw out the excess food and excused herself from his class.

"Until tomorrow, Ms. Montgomery." He called as she exited.


	6. Chapter 6

"Mom! I'm gonna be late to gymnastics! Let's go!" Callie yelled as she bounded down the stairs and slipped on her sneakers. "I'm not gonna make a very good first impression if i'm late!" She sighed as she slipped her gymnastics bag over her shoulder.

"Yes, I know. Now, get in the car!" Aria followed the small girl outside and started the engine of the car. She felt a small buzzing from her back pocket and took out her phone.

_EF: "We're still on for tonight?"_ Aria typed ferociously fast, hoping Callie wouldn't see.

_AM: "Yes of course. See you in a few"_

* * *

Aria sat next to Ezra on the couch, multiple baby albums in her lap as she skimmed through all the pages, showing him each picture.

"Did you know she was born as a low weight baby and some organs outside of her body. She had to go through a few surgeries as a newborn to get them placed back in alright. It was probably the scariest moment of my life, knowing she was born that way. The doctors said she was a miracle during the surgeries, they thought because they had to reassemble her, there would be defects. But there hasn't been any." Aria sighed, nibbling lightly at some skin by her thumb nails.

"He organs were outside of her body?" Ezra asked, astonished.

"Yeah, I knew it was going to happen when she was born because of the ultrasounds but just seeing it and hearing she weighted lower than usual just shocked me to death. They explained every part of the procedures to me and how they what they were going to do to her, it was so much." Ezra nodded understandingly and looked at a picture of Callie as a newborn in the NICU, tubes attached to her minuscule body. Aria glanced over at the clock, _8:32_.

"Okay, we have an half an hour till Callie's friend drops her off from gymnastics. I'm going to have you leave the house soon, then come back in after I explain everything to her. It's going to be tough to explain and I'm not sure about her reaction." Aria rambled, Ezra noticed she was intently biting on her thumb and gently pulled her hand away from her mouth. He brought her small hand to his lips and kissed her palm softly.

"Everything will be okay. I'll make sure of it. I want to make up for all the time I missed with the two of you." Ezra whispered, pulling Aria into his lap and continued planting small kisses on her hand. Aria nuzzled into his warm chest as he let go of her hand and trailed kisses down her neck and shoulders.

"Mmmm... Ezra." She whispered, her hand reaching out to squeeze his. He softly grabbed her chin with his free hand and made her face him, their faces only centimeters away from each other. Aria was the first to lean in and press her lips to Ezra's. The feeling of their first kiss in years brought them back to the 'good' old days. The kiss became more deep and heated as Ezra gently pushed Aria against the soft cushions of the couch and placed himself on top of her, kissing her with all the passion and love he possibly could.

* * *

"Thanks for the ride Mrs. Lazaro. See you tomorrow, Kaitlyn." Callie said as she exited the car. She squinted at the sight of a familiar car in her driveway. "Is that Mr. Fitz's car in my driveway?" Callie whispered to herself. She walked up to the car and confirmed her suspicions. She shrugged nonchalantly to herself and dragged tiredly to the front door. She dug through her bag and found her house key, sticking it in the lock. The sighed as she placed her bag by the door and walked to the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water and taking a long sip. All of a sudden, Callie heard noises, almost moaning noises, coming from the back room.

"M-Mom?" She called, no answer. Callie cautiously walked through the entrance to the room and immediately froze in shock and anger at what she saw. Her own mother was laying down on the couch below a man, with her lips securely molded into his. The man matched to those lips was none other than her_ own English teacher_, the one she _befriended._ The one she_ trusted._

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?" Callie boomed out of sudden rage. Ezra's face snapped up and immediately turned ghostly pale, realizing that the position he was in looked absolutely horrifying in Callie's eyes. Aria shot up from the couch and sat up straight, facing Callie with an equally as shocked face.

"Callie, t-this isn't what it looks like..." Aria pleaded. Ezra was silently hoping the child would react calmly to her words. He was completely wrong.

"This isn't what it looks like!? It fucking looks like you were on the couch, hooking up with my English teacher!" Aria stood there stunned at her daughter's words. "It makes _SO_ much fucking sense now, Mr. Fitz! You get close to me, befriend me, get me to trust you, so you can turn around and screw with my mom while i'm not home. It makes SO MUCH SENSE."

"Callie! You don't speak to me or him in that tone of voice!" Aria snapped, her calm demeanor gone at her child's harsh and judging words.

"No! You're trying to reprimand me for using that kind of language when you were so close to fucking my English teacher! What the hell is this!? Did moving back to this town bring back so many memories of dad, that you'd just throw yourself at some random guy to forget them!?" Tears filled Callie's eyes as she dumped her current thoughts out.

"I am your father!" Ezra thundered without thinking, angry that she would speak to her mother like that. He saw Callie's facial expressions mold from shock from his hasty, sudden words, to burning anger as she stepped towards him and jabbed him hard in the chest with her pointer finger.

"Don't you even _**dare**_try to fucking joke about a thing like that. You don't know me." Her eyes were flushed with salty tears and her cheeks were red from yelling.

"Callie..." Aria's soft voice returned. "He really is your father."

That was it. Her mother wouldn't joke about something as serious as the topic of her birth father. That was all Callie needed to hear to send her off the edge. She stood there, frozen. As if all time had stopped and she was stuck there, her thoughts were ricocheting around in her head.

"N-no... that's not possible." She whispered, looking back and forth and Aria and Ezra.

"He really is, Cal. That's not a lie." Aria tried to reach over to her fear stricken girl, but she flinched and pulled away.

"I-I... I need to go.." Callie stuttered, she dashed out of the back room and grabbed her coat that was by the door and rushed out into the cool September night, not caring if her mother or newly discovered father was chasing after her.

"Callie, wait!" Aria yelled, but again, she was long gone, far out of ear shot. Aria tried to run to the door and look for her daughter in the darkness of the roads, but failed. Tears filled Aria's eyes as she sat down next to Ezra, who had his head buried in his hands.

"This is all my fault. Why did she run...?" He cried. Aria ran her hand around his back and leaned against him.

"It's her way of coping and dealing with things. She said if she doesn't run away when she's stressed or upset, she'll freak out and make rash decisions..."

"But now she hates me. She hates me..." He chanted in a broken voice. He couldn't get the shattered look Callie had on her face when he screamed at her, utterly breaking her.

"She doesn't hate you... She's just confused and upset..."

"No, no. I screamed at her and made her upset. If only we had kept better track of time, this would have never happened." He sobbed. Ezra was hung over the fact that now, his own flesh and blood despised him. Aria rubbed his back sympathetically, she had to deal with Callie's rainbow of emotions, but this was different. Callie almost never raised her voice or cursed around her. Callie acting like that shook Aria, she remembered what it was like to find out that Byron was cheating on her mom with Meredith and how confused and angry she was. In a way, she could understand how she felt.

All of a sudden, the sound of the home phone ringing brought Aria back to reality. Ezra too snapped up to see who was calling.

"H-hello?" Aria answered, trying not to sound like she was crying.

"Is this Aria Montgomery?" A stern, masculine voice said on the other line. Aria could hear faint ambulance sirens in the background.

"Yes this is, why?" Who the hell was calling her now of all times? Ezra stared intently at her, confused as to what was happening.

"This is Officer O'Brien, your daughter, Callie has been involved in a hit-and-run accident. She's in a critical condition and is being rushed to the hospital as we speak. I urge you to come to the hospital as soon as possible."

**I'm not exactly too proud with this chapter :/ It could have came out better... but there you guys go! The secrets out! BUT, DUN DUN DUN! Will Callie be okay? Physically and emotionally? If you want to know what happens sooner, KEEP REVIEWING MY LOVELIES!**


	7. Chapter 7

**OKAY, I AM NOT A DOCTOR OR ANYTHING REMOTELY CLOSE TO ONE, SO FORGIVE ME FOR ANY MEDICAL MISTAKES I'VE MADE. I did some research but probably not enough to be positive that everything is 100% accurate! Thank you!**

Aria shut off the phone and sunk to her knees as the officers words came through the phone.

"Aria, Aria! What did they say?" Ezra begged, shaking her shoulders lightly to snap her out of her thoughts.

"Callie... S-she..." Aria's eyes widened as she broke out of Ezra's grasp and rushed to the door and grabbed her coat. "There's no time! We need to go to the hospital, Ezra!" Ezra sprinted from the floor over to Aria and grabbed his car keys, running with Aria over to her vehicle.

"W-what happened to her?!" Ezra stressed, his eyes as wide as baseballs with shock as he shoved the keys into the ignition and hastily backing out of the driveway.

"S-she was hit by a car. They said she was in a c-critical condition when they got to her." Ezra felt his chest tighten as he sped up the car as fast as he could go without being pulled over.

They parked into the nearest parking space outside the hospital and noticed an ambulance whizzing to the entrance. Aria watched in pure shock and horror as they pulled out the gurney that held her unconscious daughter and rushed her into the ER.

"Callie!" Aria screamed as she pushed her herself out of Ezra's car and ran to the entrance.

"Aria!" Ezra yelled as he dashed after her and kept a close pace behind her. Ezra held Aria as she bolted to the nearest nurse and started sobbing incoherent words, the nurse gave her a shocked and confused expression before looking up at Ezra.

"I'm sorry. Callie Montgomery, she was admitted her just a few minutes ago. She was involved in a car crash? We're her parents." Ezra panted as he tried to keep calm for him and for Aria. The nurse checked her list of admitted patients and sat them both down in the waiting area.

"You can't see her right now, but a doctor will be here soon to explain everything. I'll inform them that you're both here." Ezra smiled lightly in thanks and tried to soothe Aria, even though inside, he was breaking. He knew he couldn't break down, it would only make Aria's emotional condition worse. He sat there, his girl in his arms and struggling to hold back tears. Ezra had his face nuzzled into Aria's soft hair, using it to dry up any tears that slipped. It seemed like time went as slow as ever before a doctor came to them.

"Mr. And Mrs. Montgomery, I'm Dr. Parker. You're the parents of Callie, correct?" Ezra looked up at the doctor and nodded, rubbing Aria's arms to awake her.

"While Callie is currently in a stable condition, there are things we need to go over." He sat down in a chair across from the couple and Ezra stirred Aria out of his chest to face the doctor.

"Callie, as far as we know, was hit straight on. We think it was by a drunk driver but we can't confirm at the moment. She was extremely lucky to be seen by a neighbor who saw the whole thing from outside their house. If we were called a few minutes later, there's a very good chance she wouldn't have made it." Aria gripped Ezra's hand tighter and he kissed her head softly, tears threatening again to spill from his tired eyes.

"She went through a cardiac arrest in the ambulance and we had to use a defibrillator while on the way here. It was probably caused from the blunt force of the car colliding with her chest. The neighbor said the driver hit her from the front and from the speed the driver was going at, she went over the car and hit the ground, head first." The doctor took a deep breath and adjusted his glasses, giving the distraught pair a sympathetic glance.

"She is experiencing slight bleeding in her skull but because it's so small, it should heal on its own. She has a small concussion but nothing too serious in her head, luckily. We also did some x-rays and found she had 4 broken ribs and a broken left femur. All of the injuries were clean breaks so they should heal fully. She is currently in a medically induced coma to assist in the healing process of her cranial bleeding. She should be woken up by tomorrow afternoon, I don't think we need to keep her under the drugs for too long seeing as though it was a small amount of bleeding, but even a small amount must be taken seriously." Ezra nodded and pulled Aria back into his chest as she erupted in another fit of sobs.

"A-are we able to see her?" Aria stuttered from inside Ezra's warm body. The doctor stood up silently and waved both of them to walk with him. They walked down the bright corridors of the hospital, the silence between them was periodically interrupted by the morbidly rhythmic beeps of the heart monitors. The doctor paused in front of one room and Ezra peered inside. All he saw was a small girl, her brunette hair splayed out on her shoulders and her mouth and nose were covered by a mask. She had several IV tubes connected to her arms and her room was also filled with the rhythmic beeps. It took Ezra a moment to register that this was his girl, and that this was all his fault. He cautiously walked into the room with Aria, sitting down in a chair next to the bed. Aria's hysterical sobs died down to soft whimpers as Ezra ran his hand up and down her back, whispering soothing words to her and himself. He knew that this was all his fault, there was no one else to blame in this situation but himself. Maybe the driver, but mainly himself. If he hadn't distracted Aria, things would have hopefully turned out better than they had. Now Callie was unconscious and in the hospital with broken bones, and a broken heart. And it was all_ his_ fault.

"Please, Callie. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I did this to you. If I hadn't yelled and shocked you so badly, this would had never happened. Please forgive me, I love you." Ezra bawled, clutching Callie's hand and squeezing it. He hadn't even noticed that Dr. Parker was standing outside the door.

"She can hear you, you know? Even though she's unconscious, she can hear what you're saying." Ezra looked towards the doctor as he sat down in a chair across from Callie's bed. Ezra studied the man's face, his salt and pepper colored hair and tired, crinkled eyes. But his warm, sympathetic smile and soft demeanor brightened up his features.

"I wanted to say this when you're wife wasn't around." Ezra grimaced slightly when he said 'wife'.

"S-she's not my wife," Ezra clarified. The doctor looked slightly shocked but nodded his head in understanding.

"I wanted to say this to you when she was not here, seeing how emotionally unstable she was at the moment." The doctor said, motioning to a sleeping Aria. Ezra nodded, urging the Dr. Parker to continue. "Callie might not remember what happened to her, even things that happened before the accident. Due to the blow to her head when she had hit the ground, were not entirely sure." Ezra cleared his throat and rubbed his stubble on his chin, studying the tiled floors. He'd have a chance to explain himself again. But how would he explain the accident and how she got in it, if she didn't remember? He couldn't lie to her, he'd done so much lying and acting over the course of the weeks that he knew he couldn't carry on with it.

"I know this is passing the line of a professional conversation, but what happened that made her get in this situation? Why was she out so late?" The doctor questioned. Ezra but on his lip and sighed.

"If I tell you, it's going to take a lot of explaining."

"Trust me, being a doctor, I've heard it all," He chuckled lightly.

"It all started when I met Aria. It was love at first sight, I know how cheesy it sounds but it's true. The only thing was, I'm 8 years older than her, and her parents didn't like that. I mistakenly got her pregnant at 16, I was 24." Ezra's eyes welled slightly as he looked back at Callie and squeezed her hand once more. "When her parents found out, they claimed I raped her or took advantage of her, which is far from the truth. They went a little overboard and moved Aria to another country to raise Callie, and I had no idea until a few days later when her friends told me. It was the hardest thing to digest." The doctor patted his shoulder lightly and smiled.

"Well at least she's here with you now, right?" He consoled.

"Of course, but that's not even the worse part. I'm a teacher, right? And I see Callie's name on my homeroom roster, and I think_ 'that's not possible. She's all the way in Iceland!'_ But when she came in and I saw her, I knew it was her. So Aria called me and we reunited for the first time in _twelve years_, we knew it would be complicated to explain to Callie that I was her father and we planned out everything..." Ezra continued to explain the entire night to Dr. Parker, who just bobbed his head in an understanding manner and tried to calm Ezra down when he started to cry again.

"Callie can't be mad at you for too long. None of this is anyone's fault, you didn't mean to hurt her in this way. It was an accident." Ezra agreed with him, even though he internally doubted his words. It was his fault. If he didn't fuck up, she wouldn't have had to be hospitalized and put in a coma.

"Callie should be woken up by tomorrow afternoon. We'll need to run some tests on Callie when she's conscious so we know when she can be released. Get some rest, son." Dr. Parker said as he stood up and walked out of the room. Ezra tightened his arms around Aria's waist and laid his head against her, slowly drifting off to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

It was, yet again, the methodical beeping of Callie's heart monitor that stirred Ezra awake from his less than peaceful slumber. He took a glance over at the bed, where his near unconscious daughter lay. He refused to let himself cry as he focused on the soft, innocent features of her face that he remembered had snarled in anger and confusion at him less than 24 hours ago. She looked so peaceful, but at the same time so vulnerable and shattered to the core. It hit him like a punch to the groin when she had yelled at him, screaming that it couldn't be possible and she wouldn't believe it. It hurt even worse when Dr. Parker explained her condition to them, all the broken bones and blows to her head. Ezra wanted so badly to replace her, to be the one who was in front of that car and got nearly life threatening injuries. He would much rather be the person who was moments away from their untimely death, than a small girl, who's life had barely reached it's peak. He prayed over and over that he wouldn't have to lie and she remembered what had happened before she was hit. He wouldn't be able to bear lying to her. Ezra glanced down at his watch,_ 9:18 am_. He groaned as he realized he was late for work, and without calling in first. He shook that guilt off when he realized that it was only a few hours before the doctors would take Callie off her drugs and she would awake.

Aria, surprisingly, was still asleep, curled up around Ezra's right bicep. He sat rigid in the uncomfortable hospital chair that he had spent the night in, sleeping but at the same time barely sleeping. How could he sleep? He didn't have a moment the entire night when his mind wasn't rushing with regret, guilt and questions. He reached out and lightly grabbed Callie's hand that was resting on her stomach. He squeezed it gently, begging silently for some kind of response. To his shock, he thought felt her give a weak squeeze back. He could be hallucinating, but he didn't want to think that. He remembered what Dr. Parker had told him, even though she was unconscious, she could still hear things around her.

"We're going to take her off the drugs soon. The bleeding in her skull should have healed at least a little by now. I think it would be okay for her to wake up." An old, masculine voice spoke softly. Ezra's head whipped around to face Dr. Parker. "I figured you were awake by now. You seemed so distressed last night, I doubt you got a lot of sleep last night unlike your wi- Aria." He corrected quickly and bashfully. Ezra agreed and dropped Callie's hand back into her lap.

"Will she be okay? When will she be able to go back home?" Dr. Parker studied his clipboard full of papers and told him she should be out in the next few days, before bidding him goodbye and backing out of the room. Ezra boringly watched as more doctors and nurses rushed down the corridors, mumbling things about other patients.

"E-Ezra?" A small voice mumbled. Ezra hadn't even noticed that Aria was awaking."Yes, baby?" He softly kissed her head and scooted her up, closer to his chest.

"When will Cal be awake?"

"The doctor said he's gonna take her off the drugs in a few hours." Ezra heard her quietly whimper as her eyes focused on their child. He tried to soothe her away from looking. "Let's go get something to eat, then we can come back." Aria nodded and slowly stood up along with Ezra. They both stretched out their tired bodies that had been contorted in those uncomfortable chairs the past night. Ezra kept his arm wrapped protectively around Aria's waist as they made their way to the hospitals cafeteria. He watched as Aria just picked around at the less than tasteful food that was placed in front of her.

"Just a few bites, Aria? Please?" Ezra begged, stabbing a piece of buttered toast with his fork and holding it up to Aria's mouth.

"I don't need to be babied, Ezra." She grumbled, grabbing his fork and biting the piece of food off.

* * *

"Alright, I'm going to take Callie off the medicine," Dr. Parker informed the couple as he fiddled with the tubes in Callie's arm. "She should be awake within a few minutes, buzz me in when she is." He said, pointing to the small button near Callie's bed. They both nodded and watched their girl intently for any signs of waking up. Ezra stood up and walked by the door, knowing she'd be angry or really confused if he was sitting right in front of her. They saw her lightly stirring in her bed before opening her eyes a little.

"Fuck. My head..." She mumbled, covering her eyes with her hands to shield them from the light. Ezra rushed over to the light switch and turned it off before focusing his attention back on Callie. Aria pushed the button to inform Dr. Parker that she was awake. Aria gently grasped Callie's wrists and pulled them away from her eyes.

"W-where am I? Why am I here?" She looked around but could barely focus on anything for a long time without her head pounding.

"You're in the hospital, Bug." Aria whispered, kissing Callie's temple. "I'm so glad you're okay..." Dr. Parker walked in and observed that the lights were turned off.

"Okay, her eyes are sensitive to the light." He walked over to Callie with a little flashlight. "I'm going to shine this in your eyes very quickly just to check if there's any damage. Can you keep your eyes open for me for a few seconds?" Callie nodded and opened her eyes wide, trying to focus on something else as he flashed the burning bright light into her pupils.

"Well there's no damage done, which is good. Call me in if something unnerving happens, like she doesn't remember certain things. Otherwise, everything should be healed on it's own time." Dr. Parker informed and walked out of the room.

"What happened to me?" Callie asked Aria, barely acknowledging Ezra.

"You were hit by a car, baby. The person got you good. But i'm so thankful you're okay." Aria held Callie closer and kissed her head over and over.

"Do you remember anything that happened before your accident?" Ezra questioned nervously.

"No... Why would I?_ Dad_," She snarled, her eyes narrowed with an annoyed glance. Ezra felt another metaphorical punch to his groin as the harsh words fell from her mouth.

"Callie..." Aria warned softly. Callie shook her head and looked up at Ezra guiltily.

"Sorry for snapping. I just-"

"No no, it's okay. But I really am y-your father. I just hope you'll accept me." Ezra hesitated a little as he sat down and tried to reach out to hold Callie's hand.

"I don't bite, usually." Callie's chuckled softly as she took Ezra's hand in her small one. "I would hug you right now but my whole chest is throbbing in pain." Ezra felt his heart swell in happiness as she squeezed his hand.

"You have four broken ribs, Cal. The car hit you straight on," Aria stressed.

"Damn..." Callie lifted up the blanket that covered her body and saw her whole chest was bandaged up and her leg was in a cast underneath the hospital gown. She sighed and looked over at her mom and newly discovered dad. Her eyes going back and forth between the two before narrowing them while thinking. "Now it makes sense." She whispered almost inaudibly.

"What does sweetie?" Aria asked in confusion.

"Why you're story was so honest." Callie said, her eyes opening in shock suddenly.

"Aria, what is she talking about?" Ezra asked, worry and stress evident in his voice.

"Mom, I read it. You're story you're writing. About the two who fall in love but met at the wrong time in their lives." Aria's eyes widened and looked over at Ezra who was mirroring the same expression.

"Y-you weren't supposed to read that."

"If I wasn't supposed to, mistake number one was leaving your computer without a password, and mistake number two is leaving your curious daughter home alone with said computer laying on the kitchen counter." Callie said proudly, a small smile on her face.

"Wait, Callie. What makes sense?" Ezra questioned, he was still extremely confused about what they were talking about.

"The story my mom wrote, was your story, just the names were changed. Am I right, or am I right?" Aria nodded in agreement and looked down. "So I'm the love child between a teacher, my teacher, and his student. Perfect," Callie bit on her lip as she squeezes Ezra's hand.

"That's why I had to move away, wasn't it. Cause my grandparents didn't agree with that." Callie muttered under her breath. Ezra nodded and sighed, sensing his daughter's slight shame.

"Oh god, speaking of your grandparents, I need to call them. I told them I'd call when we got settled in the house and I never did." Aria kissed Callie's forehead and walked to the opposite side of the room, holding the phone to her ear.

"Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad. Sorry I didn't call before."

"Oh Aria it's so great to hear from you again. How's Callie?" Aria was silent for a moment, thinking of something to say without lying. "Aria, why do I hear beeping in the background? Are you in the hospital!?" Her mother asked worriedly.

"Yes, I'm in the hospital."

"What happened, is Callie okay?"

"Callie's fine, she just got in a little accident." Aria prayed that they wouldn't ask anymore questions.

"Aria, what happened to her?" Byron stressed on the other side of the phone.

"She was just in an accident, okay? She's fine." Aria grew slightly annoyed at her prying parents. The conversation went on for a few more minutes. Full of questions about the girls and the home. Not one of them brought up Ezra to Aria's relief.

"Bye mom. Call you soon." She hung up quickly and walked back to Callie and Ezra.

"We're good for now." She told Ezra, he acknowledged his understanding silently. "Callie, do you need pain medication or anything. I can call in Dr. Parker to bring you some." Callie nodded weakly and her mother pushed the small button to bring in the doctor.

"Mom?" She croaked.

"Yes, Bug?"

"I think you should change the name of your story." Aria stared at Callie with a confused look.

"W-what should I change it too?" Aria watched as her daughter thought for a moment before giving her two cents.

"_Somewhere Down the Road_. You said that to them, Elijah's car was almost a safe haven. They could drive to where ever, whenever and get away from all the judgement that was in their town." Aria's eyebrows knitted in thought as she contemplated her statement. All of a sudden, she noticed that Dr. Parker was standing outside the door.

"Sorry didn't want to interrupt. Is there something that you needed?" He stuck his hands in his pockets and walked into the room.

"Yeah, I was wondering if we could get some pain medication for Callie. Her chest is really hurting her." The doctor scribbled something on his notepad and he walked out of the room to retrieve some pills.

"So Callie, are we all okay?" Aria tilted her head to signal over to Ezra.

"Yeah, we're all okay."

**So Callie's awake and okay! Yay! I was a little disappointed in the reviews last chapter. Only 2? I got 11 on the one before that. Reviews = Motivation = you get to read new chapters sooner! I would love some more comments besides 'good chapter' and stuff because that doesn't exactly help me. Sorry if i sound a bit self absorbed or something, I just want to get some feedback on what you like or dislike so I can improve on my writing and make this story better for you guys! Again, thank you for reading! I love you all! **


	9. Chapter 9

**A Week Later**

Ezra was seated on the couch in Aria's house, going over previous lessons from his previous classes with a clearly exhausted Callie. He had returned to work a few days before Callie's discharge from the hospital; he didn't want to raise any suspicion about him leaving and arriving at work the same days as a student. Aria was sitting on the chair across from the two, furiously typing away at her computer. She was determined to finish typing and editing at least one chapter by the end of the night. Aria broke her gaze away from the screen for a second to look at the pair.

"Ezra, give the girl a break. She looks like she's about to faint from exhaustion. She'll be back in school tomorrow and you can go over everything you have left in class then." Ezra looked over at Callie, who was nearly about to pass out on his shoulder.

"Yeah, too bad I didn't break my hand or something. Then I wouldn't have to write all of these essays in Dad's class," Callie yawned. Ezra gasped and clapped his hand against his chest in mock offense.

"I thought you loved my class, and I didn't assign that many!" He retorted playfully. Callie just chuckled and kissed Ezra's cheek.

"I'm going to sleep, night mom." Callie pushed the papers off her lap and attempted to stand up. Aria murmured a goodnight to her, barely taking her eyes off of her work.

"You'll be okay getting upstairs by yourself, Cal?" Ezra spoke as he helped Callie up and fetched her crutches.

"Yes, Dad. You've watched me do it 100 times." He nodded and laughed to himself as he walked her to the large staircase.

"I know, I'm just making sure you're okay," He watched as Callie made her way slowly up the stairs and down the hallway to her room.

Ezra strode over to where Aria was working. He was surprised that the laptop hadn't caught on fire from Aria's burning glare to the screen and the fact that her fingers that were moving almost impossibly fast. A small smile graced her lips as she saw him come near.

"I'm gonna get going, Ar. I obviously have work tomorrow." Aria's head snapped up and she placed her computer beside her and walked over to Ezra.

"Please don't leave. Stay the night with me, Ezra." She begged, wrapping her arms around his toned torso and squeezing him close to her petite body. Ezra groaned quietly at her attempt and kissed her cheek chastely.

"Are you sure that's a very good idea?" He signaled upstairs, to where Callie was sleeping.

"Yes, it'll be okay, please?" She pouted and rested her head on his shoulder, knowing he couldn't resist. Ezra rolled his eyes and reluctantly agreed. They began to walk to her room when a devious thought crossed Ezra's mind. He silently snuck up behind Aria and all of a sudden, picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. He laughed heartily as she screamed.

"Ezra Fitz!" She gasped, "Let me go!" Aria writhed around in his grasp but Ezra hung on tightly to her little legs.

"Shhh, we have a sleeping child upstairs. Wouldn't want to wake her with your loud screams, now would we?" He mused, clearly enjoying her reaction.

"Let. Me. Go." Aria growled, pounding at his back angrily. Ezra shook his head and walked to her room. He chucked her onto the queen sized bed and climbed into it himself.

"You are such an asshole." She grumbled, turning away from him. Ezra slid off his shirt and pressed his warm chest directly against her back. He leaned down and planted soft kisses and nuzzles down her neck.

"Just for you."

* * *

"Do you want the honors of waking 'Sleeping Beauty' up?" Aria yawned as Ezra came into the kitchen, adjusting the tie under his navy blue sweater vest.

"You wake her up in the morning?" Aria nodded and took a sip of her coffee. She was still entirely focused on the bright light of her laptop that was placed in front of her.

"If she sleeps through her alarm; which she usually does." Ezra smiled and headed up the stairs to his teenagers room. He grinned as he came to Aria's old room, where Callie now resided. Ezra reminisced at the last time he'd been in that room, even though that memory wasn't one of his favorite. He tentatively pushed open the door and made his way to her bed. He leaned his elbows on the side of her bed and leaned in close.

"Callieeee..." He whispered, gently rocking her back and forth, hoping to rouse her out of her dreams.

"Hmmmf?" She moaned, turning her head to meet Ezra's eyes, a little frightened back at how close his face was to hers. "I'm up, I'm up." She mumbled, now fully awake. Callie moved off her bed and hopped to the bathroom on her good leg. Her father chuckled and made his way back downstairs for a cup of strong coffee.

"Do you want me to drive Callie to school?" Ezra asked as he poured himself a cup. Aria agreed appreciatively, she was overjoyed that this morning actually seemed like they were becoming a normal family.

Ezra watched as his daughter bounded down the stairs, wearing a striped sweater and a black skirt with daisies littered around it, you could clearly see her blue cast wrapped around her leg.

"Morning mom, Dad." She mumbled tiredly, grabbing a box of cereal from the cabinet.

"Morning Cal. Do you mind if I drive you to school this morning?" Ezra asked, kissing her on the top of her head and grabbing his leather satchel.

"Yeah, that'd be great." Callie replied, chewing on the soggy pieces of cereal.

* * *

A few girls gawked at Callie as she walked through the halls, deep in conversation with their very attractive English teacher. They were unaware of the very special relationship the two had, and Callie preferred to keep it that way.

"You better go to your locker, I see a few students watching us closely." Ezra whispered as he unlocked the door to his room. Callie waved a goodbye and began to make her way down the crowded halls with her crutches, hoping she wouldn't fall or anything. Books tumbled from her locker as she swung it open. She carefully bent down and began to stack them back into her abnormally messy locker.

"Look who's back, it's Cripple!" She heard a voice sneer behind her. She turned around to see Daniel Kahn and Ariana Schofield, two kids who were on a mission to make her life here a living hell. "Too bad that car didn't kill her or make her retarded," Ariana laughed. Dan laughed along with her, but Callie tried to ignore them.

"What's wrong, Cripple? You seemed fine talking to Fitz earlier." Daniel asserted, a little annoyed he wasn't getting a reaction. She tried her hardest to keep quiet and not to make direct contact to his manhood with her crutch. The duo started coming closer to her and started shoving her back into her locker. "I'd do worse to you if you didn't already have half your bones broken. It's a shame the car didn't hit you harder." They were still annoyed that she hadn't said anything snappy back.

"Hey, leave her alone." A masculine voice barked behind her. A tall boy came behind Daniel and took the back of his shirt, tugging him backwards and on to the floor. The boy turned his head towards Ariana and gave her a cold stare, making her back away. He then turned to face Callie and put his hands in his jean pockets.

"Were those people bothering you?" He asked, his voice smooth and deep. Callie shook her head to say yes. She almost instantly became self conscious as he met her blue eyes with his captivating green ones and gave her an award winning smile. "I'm Christian, I'm gonna make sure those guys never hurt you again." Christian took notice of the large cast on her leg and the many other bandages around her body. He held out his arms, urging her to give him her books.

"Let me carry these to your first period. I would assume it would be hard with your crutches." He mused as he held her books with one arm and shut her locker with the other. "Don't be shy, Cutie. What's your name?"

"Callie." She spoke nervously, she wondered why such an attractive boy like him would want to talk to an outsider like her.

"That's a beautiful name for an equally as beautiful girl," Christian said confidently.

"You're not in seventh grade, are you?" Callie asked, starting to walk with him to her science classroom.

"Im in eighth. I saw you being cornered by those kids and heard some things that they said. I couldn't just let that go on." He stopped in front of her first period classroom and held the door open for her. "Hey, when's your free period?" Christian asked as he placed her books on the desk.

"Third period, why?" That was the period she was supposed to head to her dad's classroom and spend the period.

"See you then." He gave her a wink and made his way out the door.

* * *

"Hey Cutie!" Christian called as he walked down the hallway. He was shooting one of his signature smiles at her as he came closer.

"Hi, Christian." Callie spoke, slowly shuffling towards him. Christian noticed she had her backpack slung around her shoulders and held out his hand. Callie slid the heavy bag off her back and gave it to him.

"Wanna head outside? That's where I spend most of my free period." Callie nodded eagerly, she really was interested in this guy. He put on arm lightly around her shoulder and walked at the same pace she did.

The bitter air nipped at Callie's fair skin as her and Christian walked outside. He led her over to a small table outside and sat down next to her. Christian took notice of how cold she was and slid off his large Devils hockey sweatshirt. Callie blushed as she took notice of his very prominent muscles.

"You looked cold." He said as she slid it onto her. Callie cuddled close into the sweatshirt. She breathed in the scent of cinnamon and men's cologne radiating from it.

"Are you sure you won't be cold?" She asked as she looked at his bare arms that were sticking out of his striped tank top. He shook his head and gently pulled her closer to his body. They engaged in a deep conversation about music and books. The two shared passion for different music, old and new books, and tv shows. Time passed all too quickly and before they knew it, the hour was up.

"Let me walk you to fourth period. Who do you have?"

"Mr. Fitz." Callie suddenly internally panicked, what would her dad say when he saw her walk in with him?

"Cool, I always seemed like a good teacher, just by the way everyone looked at him."

"Yeah, he sure is." Christian put his arm around her and slung her bag over his shoulder and walked her to Ezra's room.

As they reached the door, Callie saw as Ezra turned his head to look at them, suspicion in his eyes. Chris opened the door and let Callie walk in first. A few girls gossiped about the very attractive boy who had walked in with the proclaimed 'school weirdo'. Ezra eyed the boy warily and silently sized him up. His jealousy towards this boy increasing rapidly. He watched as he gave his daughter a small hug before strolling back out the door. Ezra turned his attention towards Callie, whose eyes were looking out the window, purposely avoiding his gaze. She was also wearing a red sweatshirt that he didn't recognize as hers.


	10. Chapter 10

"Does everyone have their essays back?" Ezra announced to his eager class, just as the words left his mouth, the bell that indicated the end of the period rang through the room. "Great! Have a good afternoon everybody." All of the students hurriedly packed up and rushed out. "Oh, Ms. Montgomery, may I have a word with you?" His voice grew more stern as his sentence went on. Callie groaned inwardly, she knew exactly what this was about and was almost out of the door before he called her back. A few immature boys snickered at her as she was forced to stay.

"Yes, Mr. Fitz?" She said through clenched teeth as the last student left the room. Ezra stepped around his desk to stand in front of her, he shoved his hands into his pockets and shot his daughter a pointed look.

"Who was the boy who walked you in?" Ezra asked, his slight jealously towards the boy coming back. Callie knew this conversation was unavoidable in the long run, so she might as well answer.

"Christian."

"Is he your boyfriend now or something? Because I know that's not your sweatshirt." Ezra challenged, meeting Callie's eyes for the first time since the morning. She noticed that he was studying the sweatshirt that Christian had lent to her.

"Not my boyfriend; just my _boy friend_." Callie clarified, putting a distinct pause between the two words. Ezra nodded nonchalantly. "Why?"

"Just a concerned father, making sure his daughter is safe." Callie, who was now annoyed with her overly protective_ 'daddy'_, rolled her eyes and started for the door.

"Wait, Cal!" Ezra paused as he reached the doorway and waited for Callie to turn around. "Are you going to come back to the room? You didn't come during third period." She saw him slightly grimace as he reached the end of his sentence.

"Yeah, sure."

* * *

Callie shoved all of her homework hastily into her bag, not caring if all the pages crinkled, and maneuvered her way outside towards the buses. She did not feel like enduring an awkward car ride home with her dad, and she was almost sure someone would see her getting into his car. Now that would look suspicious.

"Hey, Bug. Where's your father?" Aria asked as she walked to the door, embracing Callie lovingly.

"Not sure. I took the bus."

"Why didn't you go with your dad?" Her mother's perfectly shaped eyebrows furrowed with confusion.

"How bad would it look if someone saw me getting in a teacher's car?" Aria's eyes widened and she nodded, suddenly understanding.

"Yeah, you're probably right. So anyway, how was school?" Callie bit her lip and limped into the kitchen. She carefully hoisted herself on to the kitchen counter and stared at her mom.

"Promise me if I tell you this, you won't freak out."

"Depends on what your about to tell me." Aria folded her arms across her chest and leaned on the opposite side if the counter. "Okay," Callie sighed. "So there's this guy, his name is Christian. He's really nice and handsome, he's in eighth grade, and I can already tell that Dad wants to smack him over the head with a metal baseball bat." Aria chuckled lightly and rested her palm on Callie's knee.

"Now why would he want to do that? It sounds like you really like this kid."

"I do, but Christian was carrying my books into dad's classroom and as soon as he saw him, he got this weird angry look in his eyes." Aria laughed again and patted Callie's leg.

"That's father's for you. When I was younger, me and your dad were constantly breaking up but then getting back together. When he saw me moving on with someone else, once, I got the same look." Aria sauntered back over to her previous position in front of her computer and continued scanning the page. "You better start on your homework, I gotta continue writing."

Callie gracefully pushed herself off the counter, landing on her good foot as she grabbed her crutches and her school bag. When she finished her journey up the stairs and got to her room, she threw he bag beside her bed and flopped face-first onto the mattress, groaning in satisfaction at the feeling of the cold blankets molding with her face.

She shot up suddenly and grabbed her phone and her math binder from her backpack. She stared at her math book with a complete puzzled look on her face._ 'Use the distributive property to simply the equation 2(x+4)+3(x-5)-2y'_ "Why the hell do we need to learn this? I'm never going to need to simplify algebraic expressions when I get to the real world!" Callie grumbled to herself.

All of a sudden, her phone buzzed and lit up. A text message from a number she didn't know appeared.

_'Hey Cutie! I wanted to know if you wanted to meet up later ;) ~Chris'_

Callie's heart fluttered a little bit. She liked Christian, I mean, who wouldn't? He's gorgeous; but she couldn't like like him. She knew she was too young for a boyfriend and relationship like that would never last. Besides, he was going to be in high school next year. He'd probably meet someone more pretty and his own age by then.

_'Sure. Where? ~ Cal'_

She anxiously waited for his response, she tried doing more problems but found herself becoming distracted. Algebra would just have to wait, Callie had a hot guy waiting for her.

_'Wright's Park. I want to introduce you to some of my friends. Hope you don't mind ~ Chris'_

Callie felt her heart rate pick up at his text. He wanted her to come with him to hang out with his older friends. She just thought of herself as the school outcast, and he wanted her to hang out with his friends? What would they think of her? Would they look down on her because she's a year younger, or barely acknowledge her?

_'Of course I don't mind. Be there in 20? ~ Cal'_ Callie had walked to Wright's Park before when she went around town. Aria would let her go right? Besides, she was too wrapped up in her work to mind what her teenage daughter was up to, her dad apparently took over the job of 'hounding the daughter about her life'.

_'Can't wait Cutie :) ~Chris'_

Callie snatched her crutches and shoved all of her unfinished work back into her backpack. She stuck her phone into the pocket of Christian's sweatshirt, and made an attempt to make it down the stairs alive. "Mom! I'm going out!"

"Where are you going, Bug?" Aria queried, she had a sly smile on her face, as if she already knew what she was up to.

"I'm meeting up with Christian, I'll be home later." Aria nodded as her smile grew larger. "Have fun, and stay safe!"

* * *

Aria snapped up from her work when she heard a sharp knocking on her door. She stumbled over to the door and opened it to reveal a clearly bugged out Ezra Fitz.

"Where's Callie? I need to talk to her."

"Well hello to you too." Aria grumbled, kissing his cheek and strolling back into the kitchen. "She's out with friends." Ezra groaned and rubbed his forehead distressingly.

"With Christian?" He spat, distaste filled his words as the kids name left his mouth. Aria eyed Ezra strangely and walked over to him. She cupped his face in her hands and made him look at her straight. "Christian sounds like a good kid, and he makes Callie obviously happy. So why don't you like him?" Ezra sighed and shook his head.

"I-I don't know. Maybe it's just jealousy getting the best of me... I just felt strange when I saw her walk in with him, like i'd been replaced so suddenly." Aria sighed and led him over to the couch in the living room. "Callie loves you, and I think it's great that she is now getting herself out there with other people." Ezra reluctantly agreed, but Aria could still see annoyance in him. She smiled and leaned over to kiss him on the lips. "Don't be all grumpy about this. She won't be home for a while. So let's take advantage of our time." Aria whispered huskily as she attacked his lips once more. Ezra smirked and laid himself down, so Aria's petite body was placed on top of his.

"That sounds good to me..."

* * *

As she arrived at the park, a nervous feeling took over Callie's mind when she got there as she saw nobody around. Was this some kind of joke? Was he just pretending to be friends with her just to betray her in the end?

"Hey, Cal! Over here!" A masculine voice called, Callie whipped her head around to see Christian jogging towards her, he was coming from the woods area of the park. "I'm so glad you came. I was hoping that you wouldn't bail." He smiled brightly down at her. "I see you're still wearing my sweatshirt." Callie chewed on her lip anxiously, was that a bad thing that she was still wearing it?

"D-do you want it back?" She asked as she began to tug it over her head. Christian quickly pulled it back down and smirked. "No, it looks much better on you than me." He then nodded to her crutches, "You walked on those the entire way here?" Callie shook her head to say yes and Christian turned around and bent over.

"Get on my back, you aren't walking in your condition any longer." Before she could protest, Christian scooped her up and placed her on his back, with both of her crutches underneath his arms. He trekked into the woods until he found a group of kids sat around a miniature, man-made bonfire. They all turned their attentions to watch as Christian carried a small girl on his back, to the fire.

"Guys, this is Callie. She's cool." Christian announced to the group as he sat down on a small log and placed Callie on his lap. "This is Damon and Andrea." He said, pointing to a couple that were engrossed in each others lips. "Kaylee, Andrew, Blair, Jay, and Brayden." He pointed to each kid that was seated around the small roaring fire. Blair, a leggy girl with bleach blonde colored hair, sat next to Christian and Callie. She placed a perfectly manicured hand on Christian's knee and rubbed it, in an attempt to grab his attention. But Callie watched as he bluntly ignored her.

"Hey, Chris man! You got the stuff?" Brayden called, looking over to Chris's pockets. Chris nodded and pulled out a bag of a greenish brown plant.

"I'm guessing you don't smoke. But I hope it's not a problem that I do." Christian whispered in Callie's ear as he pulled a little bit out and handed the rest to Brayden. Callie shook her head and got off Chris's lap, she hopped over onto the tree log that was next to Chris's. What had she gotten herself into? She turned her head to see Chris with a small joint in between his fingers as he sucked up all the smoke.

"Hey kid, don't worry. Only the boys and Blair do it. Don't feel pressured." Callie hadn't even noticed that Kaylee had sat next to her. She was a bit taller than Callie with short, reddish blonde hair and dark hazel eyes. "How'd you meet Chris? It's not like him to just bring someone here."

"I was being harassed in school and he... helped." Kaylee clucked her tongue and threw a nearby rock in the fire. "An outcast, good. So are we." Kaylee leaned in close to her ear. "Except the blonde bimbo over there. She's been after Christian since as long as anyone can remember. She's popular and all, but only hangs out here to get to him. So be careful." The two girls sat in silence after that, Callie looked around to see that Chris had finished his joint and was now looking all giddy and giggly.

"Hey, Cutie! Come over here!" He called, Callie hesitated as she saw Blair's burning stare, but still stumbled over to him and sat in his lap. Chris rested his head on her shoulder and pressed his chest against her back. "I'm so glad you came."

**Not one of my best chapters but here you go! What will Ezra say when he finds out about Christian's little hobby? I'm guessing he won't be too happy ;o. As always, thank you guys for being the best readers and supporting me through this story! Keep reviewing, all of them really help me produce better content for you people! Until next time ;) ~C**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi guys! I'm sorry i've been updating pretty irregularly and my updates are nothing short of mediocre. I've been having extreme writers block and this week i'm on break so my parents want to get me out of the house a lot -.- so without further adieu, here's chapter 11! **

"So I'll see you tomorrow right?" Christian asked, flashing his boyish smile that could light up a room. His dashing green eyes were still irritated from the smoke, but he was off his high.

"Of course, I can't wait." Callie responded flatly, they came to the intersection where their different streets began. Christian gave her one last hug before waving and walking down his street to his home. The night was still young, only around 6:45. The browning, falling leave crunched underneath Callie's foot as she hobbled her way down her own street. The sun was just ending it's setting and the moon was making its arrival, shining down on the small town like a spot light. Before Callie reached her house, she panicked as she wondered if her mom or dad would be able to smell something peculiar on her, or if she had irritated eyes like Christian that would give her away. Of course, Callie didn't do anything, but even being around people who did would set both her parents off. She probably wouldn't be allowed out of the house till college.

Callie dug out her phone from her pockets and quickly scurried under a street light to examine her eyes. Much to her disappointment, her eyes were a reddish and slightly bloodshot. She knew she couldn't stay outside long, her parents would have a heart attack if she was out past dark. She decided just to make a break for it and run up to her room, dispose of the sweatshirt if it smelled suspicious, and lie. All she could do was lie. She didn't want to, but she was better off coming up with a pretty good lie.

"Mom, Dad! I'm home!" Callie flashed a quick smile at both her parents and high tailed it up the stairs before they could catch anything off about her.

"Wait Callie!" Ezra called. _Crap_.

"Hold on, Dad! I need to change!" Callie ripped off the sweatshirt and sweater she had underneath, disposing them both in the closet. She shoved off one of her mothers old Mumford and Sons t-shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants. Running to the bathroom across the hall, she splashed cold water into her eyes hurriedly. Little change was made to her still slightly reddened eyes, but some was better than none.

"Hey Dad." She cheered, as she rushed down the stairs, acting as if nothing tense between the two had happened hours before.

"Hi, Sweetheart. How was the rest of your day." Ezra asked, trying to keep the jealously out of his voice.

"It was fine." Callie didn't face the two as she rummaged through the refrigerator, looking for a decent meal. The cheeriness in her voice and the fact that she wasn't directly looking at them rendered an alarm in Ezra's head. Things seemed off, strange even, about her.

"Turn around, Cal." Ezra ordered, shoving his hands into his pockets and momentarily looking at Aria, who shot him a confused glance from the table. Callie leaned against the closed fridge door and stared down her father with her mouth in a thin line, knowing that if she played an innocent part, she wouldn't be convicted.

"Why are your eyes all irritated?" Aria bounced up from her seat and examined Callie's eyes thoroughly.

"Chris' friends made a campfire. The smoke and all." She lied straight through her teeth, making elaborate hand gestures to further prove her point. Aria nodded and rushed upstairs to grab eye drops. Callie could sense Ezra's heated glare on her as she waited for her mom to come back. Ezra came over to her and grabbed her chin in his hand, moving her head around steadily as he studied her the redness in her eyes. Aria made her way down the stairs and wasted no time placing the drops in her eyes.

"There, now go take a shower and I'll fix up your dinner." Aria ushered Callie up the stairs and turned back to Ezra, who's arms were crossed along his chest. "You believe her?" Aria asked, placing her arms across her chest too.

"Well we both know she's fully capable of coming up with a good lie." Ezra muttered, turning away from Aria to grab a drink from the fridge.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Aria spat defensively.

"Nothing, we both have lied to each other and others about things and we know that she can too."

"So you've lied to me? What about, Ezra?" Ezra stared at her, mid-sip and shook his head.

"Nothing, nothing at all." He placed his glass down and started to walk past her, wanting her to calm down but knowing better than to tell her that.

"There's obviously something that you're hiding from me, you said so yourself." Aria challenged, roughly grabbing his arm and twisting him around to face her.

"There is nothing that I am lying to you about, and the thing we _should_ be focusing on is whether or not our daughter is telling us the truth." His finger motioning to the sound of rushing water. The room they were deathly still as their eyes stayed locked on each other in a silent duel. Aria was the first to break as she nodded and walked back into the kitchen, whispering an apology.

"So should we believe Callie? Or be suspicious about the people she is fraternizing with?" Aria shook her head and began to heat up Callie's dinner. She leaned against the back of the island and kept her eyes trained on the dark wood of the cabinets.

"I'm not sure. We _should_ give her the benefit of the doubt, seeing as though we can't prove anything yet. Suspecting her and cornering her will only make matters worse if she happens to be telling the truth." Aria distracted herself as Ezra chewed on his bottom lip, his mind in a battle about what she had said.

The couple hadn't even noticed that the sound of crashing water had subsided. The loud clacking of crutches filled the air as Callie came down the stairs. She froze in the middle of the staircase as she sensed the thick atmosphere between her parents.

Callie cleared her throat and completed her journey down to the floor. Ezra noticed that, thankfully, her eyes were now more white than red. Aria, still not making eye contact with Ezra, placed Callie's plate in front of her and grabbed the computer off the table.

"I'll be in the back room, Bug." Aria placed a lingering kiss on the side of her head and walked into the other room, saying nothing to Ezra.

"I'll be out of your hair. Tell your mom I said goodnight." Ezra grumbled monotonously. Skipping out on the expected farewell to his daughter, he exited the house without another word, leaving Callie dumbstruck about what had gone on in the 15 minutes of her absence. She panicked as she expected the worst; had they assumed she was on drugs and got into a fight? She knew very well that she didn't do anything bad, maybe except being around people who were under the influence, but she sure wasn't. A soft buzzing next to Callie startled her from her deep thinking. She flipped her phone over to find a text from Christian.

_'Just wanted to make sure you got home safely. Goodnight :)'_

Callie shook her head, neglecting to reply. Once her food was all finished, she put her dish in the sink. The only sound that was present in the house was the soft clicking of the keys on Aria's computer. Her mother seemed angry, revengeful even, towards her father and she had no idea why. Callie shook her head remorsefully, stumbling to her room.

* * *

Ezra's tone throughout his classes remained harsh. He was still annoyed about what had gone on the night before. His verbal battle with Aria about his honesty really through him. He also still had no idea if Callie was telling the truth, or what he was assuming she was covering up. His brain wracking for reasons for her skittish behavior and the redness in her eyes when it hit him like a sharp slap to the face, drugs. The teacher's blood boiled with anger as his mind played scenarios of that bastard pressuring his daughter into doing drugs. His pure, innocent looking daughter under the influence and surrounded by bad people. Ezra swore to himself that, if this was the case, she'd never be allowed to see those people again.

The bell for forth period sounded throughout the school. Ezra shuffled papers angrily around his desk and straightened himself up. The door to his classroom swung open as kids filed in and took their assigned seats. He eyed scornfully as Callie came in with none other than 'Mr. Pothead'. The kid looked so innocent and caring, no wonder he had Callie in the palm of his hand.

"Mr. Drier? Don't you have a class to attend?" Ezra announced, staring the adolescent down as he loitered too long in the classroom. Not to anyone else's knowledge, Ezra had searched up Christian's file to find out a little more about the boy his daughter was socializing with.

"Yes, sir." Christian hurried out of the room, not making eye contact with Ezra. The English teacher caught notice of his girl's icy glare towards him, the one strikingly similar to her mother's. The word's once said by Ella Montgomery, whom he loathed, rang through his mind, "When she's hurt and she wants to shut you out, you could die of frostbite." There was no doubt in his mind that this similarly applied to Callie.

**Ooooo is Ezra hiding something from Aria? Leave a review and guess what it may be ;o. Oh, and I was thinking for next chapter, I'd do a flashback to Aria and Ezra's life apart, thoughts? Please review and tell me what you think! I love you guys! Kisses! **


	12. Chapter 12

**12 Years Before**

"Are you sure?"_ Ezra's soft voice rang in her head repeatedly. Aria had the whole night that they finally made love on replay, trying to remember if, and when, something went wrong._

_Aria folded her arms around her legs as they pressed tightly to her chest. She stared absentmindedly at the lightly colored walls of Hanna's bedroom._

_"Where is Spencer? I can't wait any longer." She whimpered, seeking Hanna and Emily's consoling. The two girls rushed over and sat next to Aria on Hanna's full sized bed; hugging her tightly and telling her it would be okay._

_"But what if it's not? What if there really is a baby in here and I'm not able to take care of it? My parents will murder Ezra, a-and..."_

_"Aria calm down, we don't know for sure if you're actually pregnant." Emily defended, placing her palm gently on Aria's stomach._

_The girls froze as they heard the sound of heels clacking against the hardwood floor of Hanna's house and the loud rusting of a plastic bag._

_"Okay guys I have four different tests." Spencer yelled as she entered the room with a small pharmacy bag. "Just in case." Spencer studied Aria's terrified expression as she entered and hurried to circle her arms around all three of the girls. "Aria... It's going to be okay. No matter what these tests say."_

_Aria silently broke out of the girls grasps and took the tests out of the bag. She stared at each one before sighing._

_"Who would of thought at sixteen, I'd be the one having to take one of these." Aria muttered, looking up her best friends who only gave her sympathetic glances. After an achingly long silence, she walked into the bathroom and opened all four of the tests. After embarrassingly urinating on each one, she flipped them over and slunk on to the bathroom floor._

_What would Ezra's reaction be when she did tell him? Would he even want the baby or just leave her? No, Aria knew deep down that he would never leave her in a situation like this, but what guy would want to quit their dream job to become a dad with their underage girlfriend? She wouldn't be able to live in this town and eventually, people would find out that Ezra Fitz impregnated his ex student at the tender age of 16._

_If she was pregnant._

_Aria checked the time and realized the tests should be done, she had reached the point of no return. Pulling herself up from the bathroom floor, Aria took the first test in her quaking hands and quickly flipped it over._

**_Two red lines._**

_She hastily flipped the rest over and let out a choked sob. All of them had two little red lines across the small screen. Aria Montgomery was pregnant with her ex English teacher/boyfriend's baby, and she was only 16. How was she supposed to take care of this child and get into college? Or even live in this town, or anywhere for that matter? News in this town spread like wildfire and by the time you knew it yourself, so did everyone else._

_"Guys... Come in." Aria whimpered as she held one of the tests in between her fingers. All three of the girls rushed in an gaped at the sight of all four positive tests._

_"When are you going to tell Ezra?" Spencer stressed, placing a hand on Aria's shoulder. The petite girl's muscles tightened up and she pulled herself away from her friends._

_"I need to go now." Aria whispered monotonously, suddenly gathering an urge to tell Ezra immediately. She grabbed her bag, shoving the tests in, and rushed out the door without a goodbye._

* * *

_Aria stood silently in front of apartment 3B, reminiscing on all the good times she spent with Ezra in there. But now, reality had come and shook up everything. She didn't know how Ezra would react or what he would want to do. She had ruined his life along with hers._

_She brought a shaking fist up to his door and quickly knocked on the hard wood. Aria had a key to his apartment but she it felt odd using it at the moment. The sound of soft shuffling behind the door made her heart lurch. She didn't know if she was ready to tell him. Her mind fought on whether or not she should run and hide, but as the door swung open and a worried Ezra opened the door, Aria knew there was no going back now._

_"Aria? What's wrong." Ezra asked, ushering her into his cozy apartment and sitting her down. He could see the obvious lack of makeup on her face and the puffiness and redness in her eyes made it apparent that she was crying._

_"Ezra..." It was the only thing she was able to choke out before bursting into tears. Ezra's heart broke a little bit as he watched her break down in front of him. He took her into his arms and rocked her back and forth in his lap until her sobs subsided to soft cries._

_"I'm so scared, Ezra." She whimpered into his chest, her fingers gripping onto the cottony fabric of his shirt._

_"Of what, baby?" He pleaded, aching to know what was making her so upset. He felt Aria's body tense up at his sentence and her hold on his shirt becoming tighter._

_Aria suddenly sprung from his arms and retrieved her purse from the coffee table. Her courage seemed to deteriorate after each passing second she was holding the object._

_"Just look inside of it." She ordered, tossing the bag into his lap and curling up on the opposite side of the leather couch, terrified of his reaction. Ezra stared at her confusedly, before opening the bag cautiously, as if something was going to explode out of it. The breath he was about to take, caught in his throat as he saw the pregnancy tests all faced down inside of it._

_"Aria-"_

_"Just look at them." She spoke, her voice wavering as tears formed in her eyes. Ezra took the four tests out and held them so he couldn't see the result. The silence in the apartment was so silent as Aria watched Ezra flip over the tests and his expression changed from worried to surprised._

_"Y-you're pregnant." He stared at the sticks in front of him and blinked dumbfounded, trying to wrap his head around the situation in front of him._

_"I don't know what I'm going to do, Ezra." Aria admitted, her voice cracking mid-sentence. Ezra turned to look at her and gathered her petite stature in his arms again._

_"What we are going to do, sweetheart. Because I'm not leaving you." He coaxed. Aria stared into his eyes, wondering how she was so lucky as to end up with a man like him. How could he still want to be with her when she just dropped this huge bomb on his life. The two of them had to rearrange everything they had planned. They weren't even two years into their relationship and they were having a baby._

_"How are we going to do this?" Aria whispered from inside Ezra's chest. His response was a light rub on the back and a soft kiss on the crown of her head._

_"Together."_

**Days Later**

_Ezra heard a sharp knocking at his door in the late afternoon. His head snapped up from his bottle of scotch he was anxiously nursing and grumbled. He knew there was no way, at the other side of that door would be the person he yearned to see the most. After a few days of not hearing from Aria, the silence from her nearly killed him. Well, as it turns out, curiosity really does kill the cat._

_Days before, Ezra had jumped into his Toyota Camry and drove to the Montgomery household, only to find a for sale sign stabbed into the front yard and no trace left of the woman carrying his child. Never in his life had he felt so broken. She was gone, she hadn't even told him where she was going, she just left. He remembered the anger he felt towards her at that exact moment. The fact that she thought she had the audacity to pack up and leave him without a goodbye; also while carrying his baby._

_Ezra took one last swig of his whiskey and stumbled his way to the door, bottle in hand, and opened the door to a very distraught looking Spencer Hastings._

_"S-Spencer? What are you doing here?" His words slurring slightly from the amounts of alcohol he had consumed in the past hours._

_"So you've heard?" Spencer sighed, taking in his disheveled appearance along with the hard stench of alcohol. All of Ezra's anger suddenly returned as he realized what Spencer was here for._

_"Damn right I've heard. Who does she think she is!? Taking away my child like that, without even telling me where the hell she's going!" Ezra's brow furrowed in confusion as Spencer stood there, shocked as his outburst. "What?"_

_"This wasn't Aria's decision. Her parents shoved her and Mike into their car during the early hours of the morning and forced them to move to Iceland so Aria could have her baby. You think she wanted this?" Ezra was speechless, he stood in the middle of his apartment, his quivering hand clasped so tightly around the bottle of whiskey, Spencer was scared it might break in pieces._

_"A-Aria's in Iceland?" Ezra had assumed maybe a different town or even state she had moved to. But not back to a whole other country._

_"Hanna's mom relayed the news to us the morning after she left. Aria's mom had told Ms. Marin everything as her and Mr. Montgomery finalized the decision. She had told her not to tell us until they were out of the country." Spencer clarified, stepping toward Ezra and looking at him dead in the eyes. "So what are we going to do? We aren't just going to sit around like ducks, expecting her to pop up."_

_"You mean what am__** I**__ going to do? You have school to finish."_

_"You do too, Fitz. You're a professor." Ezra folded his arms over his chest, ignoring Spencer, and walked over to his desk where his dinosaur of a laptop lay._

_"What I am going to do, is find my girlfriend. Even if it's the last thing I do."_

* * *

_Over the next week or so, much to Ezra's annoyance, Spencer had maneuvered her way into his apartment each day after school, to help him with his search for Aria. They frantically searched the web, made calls and emails, in hope to find even a sliver of information of where their pregnant friend/girlfriend was._

_Spencer jolted from behind her computer when something came to mind._

_"Ezra!" She called, snapping the now even more irritable man from his focus._

_"What do you want?!" He barked, only now did Spencer notice how much Aria's absence had took a serious toll on him. The bags under his tired, dark blue eyes only grew more heavy and dark as the days passed; it was apparent that he was getting little to no sleep. Spencer observed the dark patches of stubble remaining on his face when he half-assed shaving for work. His hair was unruly and greasy from his fingers anxiously tugging and raking the dark strands._

_"I know something that might tell us where Aria is." Spencer snapped her laptop close and got up from the couch, retrieving her black coat from the back of Ezra's kitchen chair._

_"Why didn't you think of this two weeks ago?" He fumed, getting up himself._

_"No, you can't come." Spencer defended gently, scared that even the slightest thing would send him through the roof._

_"Why the hell not?" Ezra snapped, stepping closer to the door, getting eye to eye with Spencer._

_"Because this is at Emily's house and I think it would be kinda odd if you showed up to her house, looking like... that." She clarified, motioning her finger up and down Ezra's bedraggled appearance. "I'll be back soon."_

_By the time Spencer had returned, Ezra had indulged himself in another round of scotch, skipping the glasses and, again, drinking straight out the bottle._

_"Get off your drunk ass, Ezra and look up the address." Spencer slammed a post card from 2010 onto his desk and ripped the nearly empty bottle from his rough, calloused hands. The two had a intense stare down until Ezra realized that Spencer wasn't playing around, even though she usually never was. Ezra studied the card as Spencer dumped the rest of the scotch down the drain. On the card was a letter from Aria to the girls when she first arrived in Iceland on Byron's sabbatical. Ezra looked at the return address disclosed on the card, written in Aria's beautiful handwriting, and hurriedly typed it into his computer._

_"Kópavogur." He slurred out loud. Spencer turned around to give him a strange look, as if suddenly he was speaking gibberish. Well, in her defense, he was kinda drunk._

_"What?"_

_"Kópavogur, the town Aria is in." He repeated, shoving his laptop into Spencer's face as she came closer._

_"Well," Spencer declared, "We know what we have to do now." She took she computer out of Ezra's hands._

* * *

_Much to Ezra's dismay, Spencer had made it very clear that she was flying to Iceland with him, claiming without her, 'he wouldn't have the fucking address to get to Aria'._

_By the time spring break had rolled around, Spencer had convinced her parents to let her go and had Ezra purchase her ticket alongside his. Spencer, not surprisingly, had the entire mission planned out. They were set to fly into Reykjavik by noon on Saturday. The two would take a bus into Kópavogur and find Aria._

_"You know, this isn't how I imagined spending my spring break, tracking down my pregnant best friend in another country with my alcoholic of an ex teacher." Spencer groaned as she hauled two of her bags out of Ezra's car._

_"Trust me, I didn't think I'd have to find my pregnant girlfriend with her demanding best friend as my partner in crime." Ezra mocked, grumbling silently to himself as Spencer defended herself._

_Around 12, the two had made their way into Reykjavik and into the streets of the bright, lively town. Ezra searched around for a nearby bus stop that would bring them into Kópavogur, and Spencer frantically searched for a coffee shop, in desperate need of her java. Ezra sighed, leaning against the bus stop poll. He was content with the fact that he had a few moments of peace before Spencer was back with her caffeine, screaming more orders at him._

_"Ezra!" He heard, shattering the fragment of peace he had left. "I got you a coffee, hope you like black. I honestly don't want you being crabby cause I was almost ready to stab you on the plane." Spencer confessed, taking a sip from her foam cup. "What time does the the bus get in?"_

_"Should be here in about 10 minutes." He replied shortly, keeping his eyes on the bustling road as he took a sip of his much needed coffee._

_By the time they made it to Kópavogur, Ezra spotted a young girl, roughly around Spencer and Aria's age, walking down the street._

_"Afsakið, en myndir þú skyldir vita Montgomery's? Og eða hvar þeir búa?" __**(Translated: Excuse me, would you happen to know the Montgomery's? And or where they live?)**__ The teenager nodded and eagerly directed Ezra and Spencer to a small cul de sac, with middle sized houses littered along the street. She pointed out a particularly smaller one to them and sent them on their way._

_"How the hell do you know Icelandic?" Spencer asked, noticing how clearly the girl understood him when he asked the question._

_"I spent some time here in college. Learned a bit of the language." Ezra replied coldly, sullenly keeping his focus on the building of his interest._

_As the pair came to the door of the house. Ezra gulped loudly, he wasn't sure what to expect or who he expected to answer that door. Of course he wanted Aria to answer, but it was a 1/5 chance. And with 5 people in the house, who would make the pregnant teenager answer the door?_

_Spencer knocked him right out of his thoughts as she wasted no time rapping her fist on the door. Loud movements were heard behind the door as someone appeared to the door. That someone just so happened to be Byron Montgomery, who was less than thrilled to see Ezra and Spencer at his doorstep. Byron examined Ezra's unkempt and scruffy appearance, wrinkling his nose at the young man's lack of decency at the moment._

_"Byro-"_

_"You two shouldn't be here. Especially not __**together.**__" Byron barked gruffly, sending Ezra a stern glare._

_"Byron-"_

_"No, you two shouldn't be here. It's in Aria's best interest if you simply just go." Byron interjected, not giving either of them the time of day._

_"Where is she?" Ezra demanded, becoming sickly impatient with the man's interruptions._

_"That's none of your business, Ezra. You've ruined her life enough, getting her knocked up. If you so as much get near my daughter, I will call the police and get you arrested for statutory rape of a minor." Before either Spencer or Ezra could speak, Byron slammed the door, leaving the pair stunned._

**Well! That was the longest chapter I've ever written. This isn't the only flashback chapter though so don't fret. I kinda just wanted you guys to get a feel for Ezra when he found out about Aria, along with a little Spezra "love". Next chapter will be focused mainly on Aria and Callie's birth and first few years of life. Hope you guys are still liking the story, I work very hard to put these chapters up as soon as I can. Please feel free to PM me for any reason, whether it's story ideas or if you just want to talk! Thank you all for reading and don't forget to review! Kisses!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey guys! I know it's been a while since I've last updated but here we are! Chapter 13! I have to warn you though, this chapter jumps from different years and between Aria and Ezra, but you'll get it!**

**12 Years Ago**

_"Mike!" Aria called, clutching her engorged stomach lightly. Poor Mike had volunteered to fetch Aria food when she was having cravings, even at the ungodly hours of the morning._

_"Yes, your highness?" He grumbled sarcastically, leaning up against the door frame tiredly._

_"The baby wants French fries." Aria confessed guiltily. She could see Mike's internal struggle on whether or not to rip Aria's head off. Instead, he walked towards Aria, placing a hand on her ballooned stomach. "You are so lucky I love you." He sighed, making his way towards the door, car keys and jacket hand._

_"Not much longer, Mikey! She should born pretty soon!" Aria yelled. When Mike had left, Aria slowly got off of her bed and padded to the baby's room. The small pastel pink room was decorated with a big crib, a rocking chair, a dresser full of baby clothes, and pictures that filled the wall. Aria walked to the dresser and opened one of the drawers. She had placed a picture of her and Ezra under some of the new clothes, a place she knew her parents wouldn't find it._

_More often then not, Aria wondered how Ezra was coping with her absence. She knew that she sure as hell wasn't doing too well. She had tried to call him using her friends phones, but it only led to voice mail. Her parents still hadn't given her access to her own phone yet, and it was killing her. Maybe it was just the baby hormones, but when her parents weren't hovering over her, she was pining and crying over Ezra. She needed him here with her. Even hearing his calming voice would be a dream come true. Aria needed him to be here for the birth of his first child._

_As Aria was staring at the picture, tears steadily falling down her face, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Aria collapsed on the floor and breathed heavily. The pain didn't stop for a few seconds until she felt a wet feeling underneath her._

_"Mom!" Aria shrieked, suddenly panicking that she was going through labor. Ella rushed into the room and saw her fear stricken child, struggling with tears. "I think my water broke," She whimpered. Ella hollered for Byron and the two of them rushed Aria to the hospital._

_"I still have a few weeks to go, Mom. What if the baby isn't okay?" Aria cried from the back seat of Byron's car. Ella reached back and squeezed Aria's hand, reassuring her that everything would be alright in the end._

_Once the family had gotten to the hospital, Byron called Mike, telling him to forget about the fries, and come there. Aria was rushed to an ultrasound room so her doctor could examine the baby before it was born, leaving Ella and Byron anxiously in the waiting room._

_"Okay, Aria. We're just going to take a quick check at the baby, seeing as though it's coming early, and then we will prepare you for giving birth." Dr. Ridley said, squeezing the cold jelly onto Aria's stomach and rubbing the wand over it. A fuzzy picture began to show on the screen._

_"Aria how long has it been since your last ultrasound?" Her doctor asked, her voice slightly concerned._

_"When I was around 5 months along, why?" Aria grew tense, worrying that something was wrong. She tried to study the picture that was on the screen but couldn't see anything alarming._

_"It seems your baby will be born with gastroschisis. It's a birth defect in which some of the organs are outside of the body when it is born. It's easily fixed but requires immediate surgery and a lot of healing time." Dr. Ridley explained, pointing to some of the tiny figures on the screen that were supposedly the baby's organs. The news nearly made Aria's heart stop. Her baby wouldn't be born completely healthy and she wouldn't be able to hold her little bundle of love when she was finally out. She wished, more than ever, that Ezra was here to rub her back comfortingly and tell her it'd be okay._

_As the doctor was explaining the baby's surgery procedures, Aria screamed in pain once more, clutching her pregnant stomach. She prayed that the pain would soon be over and her baby would be okay._

_"Let's get you into a room, your contractions seem to be coming closer." Dr. Ridley led Aria to a wheel chair and hurried her into a bed and gathered her family into the room._

_"Oh, Aria. Soon you'll be a mother." Ella started tearing up, her first grandchild was about to be born. Mike looked a little uncomfortable about the whole situation. Byron was on the fence, as if he had a choice. He didn't like the idea of his 16 year old daughter having a baby, especially with her English teacher, but it's not like he could do anything about it now._

_At around 8:30 in the morning, Aria's contractions were getting even closer. The doctors delivering Aria's baby announced it was time. Aria panicked internally as the doctors prepared her. What if due to the baby's defect, she didn't come out right? What if something else went wrong?_

_Ella held her daughter's hand tightly, sensing her daughter's jumpiness. "It's going to be okay, Aria."_

_The doctor appeared in front of Aria's bed and looked around the room. "Where's the father?"_

_Aria watched as Ella and Byron tensed up, her father's constipated look making an appearance at the mention of 'the father'._

_"He can't be here right now." Mike said, cutting through the awkwardly rigid silence. Aria diverted her gaze from the doctor as she gave everyone a weird look._

_"Alright then-" The doctor was cut off by the shrill sound of Aria crying out in pain. The doctor gently pushed Aria's legs apart and looked up at her. "When your next contraction starts, you need to push." Aria nodded and waited, feeling the embarrassment of the whole situation setting in. Her next contraction snuck up on her, sending searing pain through her body as she cried out._

_"Aria push!" The doctor yelled, holding Aria's legs as she complied. Ella and Byron squeezed her hands comfortingly as she yelled in discomfort._

_"C'mon Baby. She's almost here." Ella soothed, rubbing Aria's shoulder a tears of joy and pain fell down both the females faces._

_"The baby is crowning!" The doctor announced. Mike walked over, slightly curious, but then ended up looking like he was about to pass out._

_"Mike!" Aria growled at the sight of her younger brother's reaction._

_"One more push Aria, she's almost out." The doctor got ready for the baby's arrival. Aria let out once last primal yell but then felt a feeling of satisfaction as the pain subtly subsided. The only thing that shocked her out of her joyous trance was the sight of her baby being taken out of the room hurriedly by the doctors. All of them mumbling orders as they stabilized the baby for the NCIU._

_"Mom..." Aria sobbed, tears rushing down her cheeks as she could hear the sound of her baby crying. Ella and Byron had tears of happiness streaming down their faces as they embraced Aria._

_"When will we be able to see her?" Ella asked the doctor as she returned, clipboard and pen in hand._

_"We informed Aria during the ultrasound that she would be born with gastroschisis. The baby will be going through surgery as soon as possible but you will be able to see her as soon as the procedure is finished." The doctor spoke, her professional, calming voice putting the family at ease. "So what will be this little girl's name?"_

_Aria took a moment to think before speaking up. "Callie." She smiled as the name left her lips._

_"Callie Rose." Everyone turned to look at Mike as he interjected. "Hey, I had do your craving runs almost every night. I should at least get the liberty to choose my niece's middle name." Everyone laughed, including Aria, who still had tears rushing down her blushing face._

_"Alright. Callie Rose Montgomery."_

* * *

**A Year Later**

_It had taken around a month for newborn Callie to heal fully and be able to come home. Aria remembered plain as day, watching Callie absorb food through a tube and having to require multiple machines to help her breathe right._

_"Callie, say Grandpa." Byron cooed, holding one year old Callie in his lap. She was silent, almost nothing came out but a small, babyish giggle. "Say Grandpa, baby."_

_"Poppy." Callie babbled, placing a tiny hand onto Byron's nose. He shook his head and laughed, making the baby laugh as well._

_"What are we so happy about, hm?" Aria asked, leaning on the door frame to the living room. Witnessing her dad and Callie giggling together made her only wish Ezra was there to replace him. Nearly two years they had been apart, and she still loved him as much as she did the first day. She now knew what it truly meant when people say that absence makes the heart grow fonder._

_"I'm trying to get Callie to say 'grandpa' but it's not exactly working." Byron chuckled, bouncing the little girl on his knee. "She's such a happy baby." He added as Callie showed her gummy smile. Aria mumbled something about Ezra, making Byron loose his playful attitude and stand up to hand Callie to Aria._

_"That baby is lucky that she is here. As long as I'm concerned, Callie is not going to grow up around that man," Byron growled. He stormed out of the room and into his office._

_Aria held baby Callie close her chest and angrily walked to Callie's room. She dug around the dresser in her room until she found the old photo of her and Ezra. Callie affectionately snuggled up into Aria as she spoke._

_"This is your daddy, Cal." Aria placed a finger to Ezra's picture. She watched as Callie's baby blue eyes shimmered with curiosity. A small, chubby hand was placed onto Ezra's face as Callie's melodious giggles bounced off the pink walls._

_"Your daddy loves you baby. No matter what." Aria whispered, stroking the thin, cinnamon colored strands growing upon her baby's head. She stared at the picture for what seemed like a while, almost in a trance. She wished she could go back to Rosewood, have her and Ezra's child grow up with him. But she knew that her dream was far from reality._

_"Hey Aria-" Mike opened the door to Callie's room and stopped short when he saw Aria in the mahogany rocking chair Byron had made, holding a picture with Callie sat in her lap. Aria quickly wiped away her tears and flipped the frame over._

_"Yeah Mike?"_

_"Was that of... Ezra?" He said, motioning to the picture frame in his sister's lap. Aria weakly nodded as more tears built up in her eyes._

_"You better hide that. You know what Dad will do if he finds out you have it." Mike sauntered over to Aria and picked up Callie, cradling the baby in his strong arms. "Let me take her. You chill for a little bit."_

_"Mike." Aria started, Mike turned around as he almost was out the door. "You won't tell them I have the picture right?"_

_"Of course not. I never agreed with their decision anyway. You and Fitz deserved to be together, and this child deserves to have her father."_

* * *

**7 Years Later**

_If you asked Ezra Fitz about Aria Montgomery, he'd recite the quote he gave his last high school class before he left to become a professor. "You must give up the life you had planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you."_

_The now bitter alcoholic had to give up the almost fairy tale life he had planned with his pregnant girlfriend, to now struggling about how to move on. It took 8 years of silence from her end to make him realize that she wasn't coming back. On another lonely night, like the ones he usually had, his friend, and expert womanizer Hardy, persuaded Ezra to get out of his apartment and go to a bar. Hardy was sick of watching his amigo drowning his sorrows in alcohol for 8 years straight. The man needed another woman. One that was a polar opposite from the petite brunette who stole his heart and any essence of happiness._

_Accompanied by Spencer Hastings as his 'wing girl', Ezra and Hardy stepped into the bar nearest to Hardy's flat. Spencer spotted a blonde girl about her own height, she nudged Ezra and motioned to her._

_"Ask to buy her a drink, be persistent but not pushy." Spencer shoved a less than enthusiastic Ezra towards a group of girls who caught her eye. She sat down in a booth near by with Hardy to make sure Ezra didn't fuck up, and to spot other potential ladies._

_Ezra strode up next to the girl and ordered himself a glass of bourbon, pretending to not see her. To his luck, the pretty girl turned around to look at him, studying him up an down. Even through his extensive periods of drinking, he went to the gym a lot. He had more muscle on his arms and torso as a result._

_"Can I buy you a drink?" Ezra asked, smirking proudly as he took a sip of his bourbon._

_"I already have one, but you can buy my next round." The girl said, winking. Ezra observed her tall, thin stature and wavy beach blonde colored hair. "I'm Joanna."_

_"Ezra."_

* * *

**Two Years Later**

_"27 months?!" Ezra boomed, clutching various papers in hands. "You told me you'd be gone for a little while. I thought that meant 5-6 months tops! Not nearly 2 and a half years!" Joanna pulled the last of her bags to the front of Ezra's tiny apartment. She stayed silent._

_"When were you going to tell me this? When you were thousands of miles away?" Ezra grew very impatient. This moment felt like when he found out Aria had gone to Iceland. As much as he still loved Aria, he couldn't believe Joanna would lie to him about being gone for so long._

_"Possibly. Because I knew you'd act like this." She said, finally speaking up. "I leave tomorrow morning."_

_"So this is it?" Ezra crossed his arms over his chest, tears building up in his eyes._

_"Ezra... I have to go. As much as I'd love to stay with you, you know this has been my dream for a long time." Ezra knew she was right. Joanna had been wanting to be in the Peace Corps since she was 18. Now that she was in a good place and had a chance to go, Ezra couldn't stop her._

_"I'm just- I'm just going to miss you." Joanna sighed softly and pulled him into a hug, kissing the top of his head._

_"I will too. I'll try to call or write as often as I can." Her dark chocolate eyes glimmered with tears. "Will you wait for me?"_

_"I'll try."_

_Ezra had confided in Joanna about Aria when he was ready and she had helped him get over his alcohol addiction in the two years they were together. Even when he had told her about getting Aria pregnant, leaving out the fact she was his student of course, she still stuck by his side. He thought she was amazing for that. He had surely thought Joanna would have been more shocked or even angry at him, but instead, she was very sympathetic and understanding. Joanna had helped him out of a deep rut he dug himself into, and he could never thank her enough for that._

_Even with his still prominent love for the girl who was currently raising his child, he also loved Joanna. Her absence would be hard. She had been there for him for so much. It was only two years. Only two years. The more Ezra thought about it, the worse it seemed. He was with Aria for almost two years, now look where he was. So much could drastically change in two years. Who knew what there relationship would still hold in two years?_

_Ezra's mind was all over the place by the end of the night, holding Joanna tightly in his arms, he replayed the years he spent being spiteful and drunk. He nearly sent him down spiraling within a few days of Aria being gone. But that was different, Aria was carrying his child. The child who would be 10 now. He missed 10 years of his baby's life, not even knowing if it was a boy or a girl. Ezra knew he could never forgive himself for that._

**Did you guys expect that? What do you think will happen now that Joanna is kinda still a part of Ezra's life? HMMMM? Muwahahaha tune in to find out next chapter! Next chapter WON'T be a flashback. We are back to regular story line and present day. Thank you all for reading and do not forget to review! Kisses!**


	14. Chapter 14

**I'm sorry this chapter is shorter and a little more boring. I'm not exactly in the best "writing mood" whatever that is for me. I also apologize in advance for any writing errors or mistakes on my part. Enjoy!**

"Her birthday's coming up." Aria said, ignoring Ezra as she folded up clothes against the arm of the sofa. Ezra paced the living room, bugged that Aria wasn't taking what he was saying seriously.

Ezra crossed his arms over his chest. "Aria this is serious, our daughter could be out in the woods, doing drugs with stoner kids! I-"

"God Ezra! Would you drop it! She came home with red eyes once! There are like, a hundred explanations as to why that could be!" Aria placed the rest of the unfolded articles of clothing onto the floor and went to take a seat on the couch, rubbing her straining temples.

"I really think we should ask her or-" Ezra started.

"Ask her?" Aria's eyes widened and she raised her eye brows. "Ezra, we cannot just ask our twelve year old daughter if she is doing drugs! Do you have any idea how that would go?" Ezra let out a defeated sigh and sat next to her on the couch.

"Don't you think we should try and at least figure out if I'm right?" Ezra whispered, placing his hand on top of hers. Aria leaped up from the couch and groaned. If this were a cartoon, you would clearly be able to see the smoke arising from Aria's ears.

"What I think is that you are blowing this way out of proportion. Callie is not doing drugs! If she was, I would notice the signs, okay?" Aria took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of wine from the top counter and pouring herself a glass. Ezra grunted, furious with her stubbornness. He stood up and trudged to the kitchen, leaning his hip against the island.

"What I should be focusing on right now, is our daughter's birthday." She stared absentmindedly at the wall as she took a sip of the blood red liquor.

"Fine, fine. What are we planning to get her?" Ezra asked, still full of annoyance towards Aria.

"I honestly don't know. That girl never wants anything. It's always just new journals or books," Aria grumbled. "Thirteen's a milestone. I want to get her something special."

"What about a pet? She's an only child." Ezra could almost feel Aria rolling her eyes at his suggestion. "C'mon, a girl and her cat."

"I though the saying was 'a boy and his dog'?" Aria dead panned.

"A dog. Get her a dog." Ezra smiled brightly, clearly enjoying the idea of having a dog around the house.

"No way. As long as I'm here, we aren't getting a dog." Ezra walked behind Aria, taking the large wine glass out of her hand, and kissed her neck over and over.

"A cat it is." Aria tried to stifle a giggle as she pushed Ezra away, she wanted to stay mad at him. He always made it too easy for her to forgive him. Ezra stared at Aria with mock hurt. He was determined to make her laugh, seeing as though she refused to succumb to his kisses. "C'mere." He made kissy lips and chased Aria with his arms spread out in front of him. Aria squealed as he started to run after her around the kitchen.

Their playful banter was cut short by the sound of Aria's phone ringing. The caller ID made Aria stop short and place a finger against her lips to silence Ezra.

"Hi Mom. How are you?" Ezra immediately stopped his soft chuckling and his breath caught in his throat. Ella, next to Aria and his mother, was the only woman below 5'6 that could make him weak in the knees with fear.

"Aria, so good to hear your voice. I know my little baby's birthday is coming up!" Ella cooed.

"Oh mom, Callie isn't here right now. But I can tell her you called..."

"Oh nonsense, Aria. Mike, your dad, and I are flying down in two days for Callie's birthday!" Aria looked towards Ezra, who looked panicked.

"Mom, you guys don't need to do that..."

"Aria, we have been there for everyone of Callie's birthday's since she was born. It's only right if we come and see her." Aria sighed inwardly, knowing her mother wouldn't back down from something like this. She reluctantly agreed, hurriedly said goodbye and hung up.

"My parents are coming for Callie's birthday. They're arriving in two days." Ezra's eyes almost bulged out of his head. He paced the small kitchen nervously as he ran a hand through his greying hair.

"What are we going to do?" He folded his hands under his arms and gulped.

"Well, there's nothing they can do about it now. So... Nothing. Just wait for Hurricane Byron to pass when they do arrive." Aria picked up her wine glass and took a generous sip of the liquor.

* * *

To even her own surprise, Aria was nervous when she picked up her parents from the airport. They all now sat in Aria's small car, everyone but Aria was engaged in a conversation about Callie's adjustment and likings about Rosewood.

Aria and Ezra had specifically told Callie to not mention Ezra at all before Aria had explained and smoothed things over. The family pulled into the driveway of the old Montgomery house and filed out of the car. Before anyone could enter the house, Aria abruptly stood in front of the door with her hands in front of her.

"Before anyone does anything, I want you all to meet, or re-meet, someone." Everyone but Callie gave Aria confused looks before she opened the door and ran into the back room. Ella turned to look at Callie as they all walked in. She gave him a small shrug of her shoulders.

"Mom, Dad." She tugged on Ezra's hand and brought him out. "Ezra."

You could, clear as day, see the anger building up on Byron Montgomery's face. The silence and tension between the group was so thick, you could cut it with a knife.

"What in the hell are you doing here? I thought the last time I saw you, I told you to never go near by daughter and granddaughter." Byron reached out to place a protective hand against Callie's shoulder, but only felt air. The next thing he saw was Callie, with her hands wrapped affectionately around Ezra's stiffened arm.

Ezra felt like the smallest person in the room, even standing next to Aria and Callie. He cleared his drying throat, trying to form words to defend his side.

Mike and Ella made no move to say or defend anyone. Both mother and son were too shocked at the situation at hand to say anything.

"Mr. Montgomery, I have the right to know and live with my daughter. You had no right in the first place to take her away from me." As the words left Ezra's lips, the constipated look on Byron's face made a reappearance and he stormed up to Ezra with a shaking finger.

"I could have gotten you put in jail for what you did. I could get a restraining order against you for raping my daughter."

"Dad-" Aria pleaded.

"Having sex with a minor, none the less getting her pregnant is a crime. I could still get you sent to prison." Ezra stayed silent, his face paling with every word that Byron spat in his face. He knew that the older man was right. He could get sent to prison and Byron had a good enough reason to get the police involved to make sure he never gets in direct contact with his own daughter. Nonetheless leave him unemployed.

"Dad!" Aria yelled, breaking the intense stare down between the two men. "Can't we all just act like a family for a few days, for Callie's sake. After her birthday, you can go back to hating Ezra all you want." The group stayed silent for a moment, which seemed like forever, before Byron let out a defeated huff and retreated to the guest bedroom. Ella soon followed, but Mike stayed right in place. The 26 year old and Ezra stood in a very awkward silence as Aria ran to diffuse to bomb that was her father.

"Welcome to the family." Mike chuckled, walking over to the older man. Ezra observed how time took a toll on him. He had a small beard growing and his hair was cut a little shorter. Ezra gulped, noticing how easily Mike could beat him up if he ever needed to, with all the muscle and height he had gained. "Don't worry, I won't punch you like in our last encounter; never got to say sorry for that." Ezra nodded a silent thank you and scratched the stubble on his face nervously. He had no idea what to, checking up on Callie would mean having to pass the guest bedroom, not an option.

"Hey, Ezra. I never agreed with my parents decision about this. My mom may seem like she still hates you, but after a few years, she kinda regretted moving. Seeing how miserable Aria was becoming." Ezra took mental note of that and offered Mike a drink. The two men sat down at the table, whiskeys in hand, engaging in small talk to pass the time.

The two didn't even notice as Ella entered the room with little Callie. The poor girl looked scared and even as if she was crying. Ezra's fatherly instincts kicked in and he leaped out of his seat to engulf Callie into his arms. She nuzzled her way into his chest and the two stayed there like that until Ella cleared her throat, a stone cold look on her face.

"Byron and Aria are talking things out." She said, "Mike, would you leave the room for a second. I need to have a word with Ezra." Ella's rough tone made Ezra's bones freeze. Mike quickly exited the room, leaving him in the lion's den.

"I'm going to start off blunt. I do not condone this relationship, but I realize that you have the right to have a place in Callie's life. It was selfish and wrong on my part to take that position away from you." Ezra nodded, taking a sip of his liquid courage. "Unfortunately, my husband isn't as forgiving. He wants what he _thinks_ is right for his girls. I want what I _know_ is right, which is having Callie have her real father included in the family."

**So here we go! Meet (or re-meet) the parents. Tension is in the air between Byron and Ezra, but Ella had a lot of time to think about her hasty decision! There will be more drama and blah coming up in the next few chapters so be prepared. Thank you all for reading and don't forget to review! Kisses**


	15. Chapter 15

"Happy birthday to you..." The group sang. Aria, Ezra, Mike, and Ella were huddled around Callie's bed, singing the ritualistic birthday song softly to stir the teenager out of her sleep. The only one not present in the room was Byron. Even though it seemed as though he was acting more civil towards Ezra, he'd take any excuse to not be in the same room as him.

"Hmmmf?" Callie grumbled, turning over and slowly opening her eyes. A startled look took over her face as she noticed how close everyone else was to her.

"Good morning to you too. But can't a girl get her space?" She mumbled and picked up her phone, realizing it was 8 in the morning, "and some more sleep?" The small girl sunk back into her soft mattress and encased herself into her sheets. The group of adults chuckled and went downstairs to where Byron was cooking up breakfast.

By the time Callie had made it down the stairs, she was clad in a navy blue sweater and grey sweatpants.

"Happy Birthday, Sweet girl." Byron said cheerily as he placed a kiss in her half combed hair. Everyone else at the table gave Callie hugs and kisses as she passed by. Sitting in the empty seat next to Ezra, she grabbed a slice of bacon off his plate and started to nibble on it.

"Want me to get you a plate?" Ezra laughed as Callie laid her head tiredly on his chest, still chewing on the fried meat.

"Nah. I'm okay picking off your stuff." Ezra just laughed and stroked Callie's untamed hair. The silence that followed the daughter and fathers playfulness was riveting. Byron still seemed a little uncomfortable at the sight of the two so close. Even though he was warming up to Ezra ever so slowly, there still was a glacier around his heart for the two that needed to melt in order for him to understand.

"So who wants to open presents?" Mike interjected as he bolted off his chair and came back with a messily wrapped box. Callie and the rest of them giggled at the exterior of the box and Mike scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. Callie opened the box to reveal two gift cards and a few new sweaters. Callie had opened other presents from Aria, Ella, and Byron before Ezra smiled devilishly, excusing himself from the table to retrieve his present. He ran as fast as his middle aged legs could carry him to the laundry room and came back with a small box.

He placed the small box in Callie's lap. The small holes that were on the box, he faced away from sight. His daughter's eyes lit up as she opened the box.

"Dad, you didn't..." Callie lifted out of the box, a small calico kitten. It mewled and attached its claws to Callie's sweater as Ella and Mike came closer.

"Ezra, I thought you were joking." Aria hissed as she elbowed him in the side. Ezra said nothing, instead, kept the goofy smile that was plastered on his face the minute he placed the box down. Callie detached the cats claws from her shirt and rushed over to give Ezra a hug, sputtering 'thank yous' as she rested her face against his toned stomach. Soon, all of the family joined into a big group hug. Yes, even Byron.

* * *

As soon as Hanna, Spencer, and Emily joined the part a few hours after the family breakfast, Callie was once again showered with gifts and loving attention.

"So you're turning 13 today, right?" Emily asked and as she took a seat in the chair across from Callie and Ezra. The teenager nodded happily and held her kitten, now dubbed Phantom, close to her body. Aria interjected the short conversation by passing out cake and singing happy birthday for the second time that day. The rest of the night after that was full of Aria sharing pictures of baby Callie and telling embarrassing stories of when she was a toddler. Callie, of course, was the only one who didn't enjoy all of the laughter pointed directly at her.

Spencer, who was sitting next to Callie and Ezra, pulled Callie into a small hug to distract her from the family's teasing behavior and asked her an important question.

"Did you get everything you asked for?" Callie thought for a moment before squeezing Ezra's hand, and receiving a gentle squeeze back.

"Yeah, I did."

* * *

**DAYS LATER**

Ezra sat on his bed, in his dark, empty apartment. He sipped on his beer as he watched _It Happened One Night_ for the millionth time.

His movie was interrupted by the sound of sharp knocking on his door. Ezra placed his beer on his night side table and paused the film. He went to open the door and revealed on the other side, the person he expected the least.

"Joanna?.. I-" His words were cut off by Joanna attaching her lip to his in a hungry kiss. Ezra instinctively placed his hands on her waist. His brain was screaming at him to stop, telling him that this was wrong and knowing this would destroy him. But he didn't.

As Joanna pulled back, she flashed a bright smile at him and snuggled into his chest, whispering how much she missed him. Ezra stood there in the doorway, his arms wrapped around her, completely still and shocked. He realized now that he had cheated on both of the women he cared about the most. He just wanted to pull Joanna into his apartment and say it was over, explain everything about Aria and move on. But he couldn't. He owed so much to this girl. Without her, he'd be dead or worse.

And part of him still loved her. Part of him would always love her, in a different way than he loved Aria, and he'd be in her debt for what she had done for him. Joanna had dragged him out of the pathetic path of life he had set himself on with her high heels. She had gotten him back on his feet, gotten him a new job and gave him his life back. It felt wrong to leave her just like that. Even though she left him abruptly for 2 years, at least he knew she was loyal enough to come back like she did.

Ezra pulled back from the embrace and took Joanna's hands in his.

"I need you to come inside, there's a lot we need to talk about." Ezra quickly surveyed the apartment halls before ushering Joanna in, not noticing the tiny brunette with the broken heart behind the chipping wall.

XXX

Callie was stomach down on the floor, her new camera trained on Phantom as he jumped on and played with every piece of furniture in the living room.

"Cal, babe. I'll be back soon. I'm just going to Dad's place." Aria called as she grabbed her coat from the hooks. Callie jumped up and hugged her mother quickly before returning to her photography.

Aria strode to her car and drove to good old 3B. She held the manuscript of her book in her hands. Aria had sent the manuscript over the internet to almost a dozen editors over the country and eagerly awaited their responses. She just wanted Ezra to read it before she heard anything from anyone else. On her way up the stairs, she reminisced on all the good, and bad, times she spent in that apartment. Like when he held her in his arms that night after the art gallery, fighting about her parents the night after, and then making up over left over pesto pasta a day later.

Unfortunately, her trip down memory lane was shattered by a sight she thought she'd never see. Aria watched as Ezra stood in the doorway of his apartment, his lips glued to another woman's and his hands resting on her hips. Aria stood there, livid, but also too torn to say or do anything. She felt as if her heart had been stabbed with a freshly sharpened spear and as if every good thought she ever had of him diminished into thin air. It took every fiber of self control she had in her tiny body to resist the urge to yank the woman off of Ezra and then resume to slap the shit out of Ezra. Aria had never felt so angry at one person but also felt as if her heart had nothing left in it because of that same person.

As the kiss ended, Aria bolted behind a wall and watched the two interact once the affair ended. Ezra had laid his head atop hers and held her body close to his. Aria tried her hardest to resist letting out a pained sob. But she could already feel the hot tears of betrayal steadily rushing down her face. She observed as Ezra pulled back from the hug and took the unidentified woman's hands in his disgusting, cheating ones that held Aria's sleeping form just a few nights ago. She could hear his strained voice from across the hall as he spoke.

_"I need you to come inside, there's a lot we need to talk about."_

With that, Aria darted from her hiding spot and out to her car. She sat in the drivers seat, her dignity and heart completely smashed. She had never felt so betrayed by someone. Even her own parents when they carted her off to Iceland. It didn't hurt as much as the sight of the man she waited 12 years for kissing another girl.

When Aria had composed herself again, she started the engine and burned rubber as she got the hell out of that parking lot and back home. She could barely focus on the almost empty road as questions flooded her mind. The pain of the situation nearly blocked out every other coherent thought in her mind as she tried to concentrate on getting home safe. As she pulled into the parking lot, she hurriedly fixed her makeup and made sure it didn't look as if she was crying. More than anything, she did not want Callie to find out. It would shatter the poor girl's heart if she found out. It hurt her so much to lie to her daughter, but she didn't want to witness her daughter's face of pain and hurt again.

**Sorry about the delay with the story, I got held up most of the week and weekend from writing because I was a lead in my school's play and we had super long practices after school and at least 6 shows. Tsk Tsk, what is Ezra going to do now. Aria caught him in the act and now he doesn't know that she knows... DUN DUN DUN tune in for the next chapter soon! Kisses!**


	16. Chapter 16

**I know, I know. I_ SUCK _when it comes to updating. But here we are, chapter 16! I'm sorry for not updating in nearly a week. School has been totally stressing me out with quizzes and projects and tests, oh my! I will try to get more on track and update sooner! Anyway, enjoy the story!**

"I can't do this, Jo."

"Do what, Ezra?"

"_This_, okay? I can't do_ this_ anymore." Ezra confessed after finally growing a pair. He motioned his pointer finger between him and Joanna to further direct her attention to the awkwardly tense air between them."I just can't. You'll be leaving again sometime and I just can't deal with your absences for that long period of time." It broke Ezra's heart to say this to her. He loved Joanna almost as much as she loved him, but he had to let her go. He had a family now. Even though he would always be in her debt, he just couldn't keep on lying to Aria and Callie, they meant too much to him.

"So that's just it? I get back from an almost 15 hour plane ride, excited and filled with tears of joy to be reunited with my boyfriend, only to find out, it's over? What, did you meet someone while I was gone?" Ezra gulped, how was he able to explain this to her? Was he supposed to tell her that he reunited with Aria?

"N-no." He lied, instantly regretting that he did. He forgot how much she made him feel scared when she was angry. Joanna was right up to par with Aria when it came to being scary when mad.

"Are you lying to me, Ezra?" Joanna crossed her arms across her chest, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.

"Remember when I told you about Aria?" Ezra sputtered, honestly having no idea what he was doing. "How I said-"

"That you still loved her? That you had been waiting years and years for her to come back, only to have your heart broken when she never did? Yeah, why?" Joanna's voice began to waver, also becoming more impatient, and it broke Ezra's heart even more.

Yes, as horrible as it was, he still loved her. He loved Aria and Joanna. But if there was one thing he knew for sure, he'd give up anything to be with Aria. But to be fair, he already had, and to him, it was all worth it. But loving Joanna was different than loving Aria. The two were polar opposites, that's what Hardy and Spencer wanted that night at the bar, someone completely different, and that's what he got.

Ezra didn't know where this conversation was leading. Telling Joanna that Aria was back would already brew up more trouble, and yet he still brought her up.

"I-I can't deal with that again. You'll be back and forth in the country for so long. You being gone for years at a time and I don't know when or if you are coming back." Ezra wasn't completely lying. But he was holding back the real reason he was ending things. It hurt him to see Joanna this crushed, but it was the right thing to do, just let her go.

"Well, I wouldn't want to be a burden to you. Goodbye, Ezra." Joanna snapped. The words hit him like a bullet. The last words were the same two words that Aria had spoken that day in the church. The only thing that would make it same is if she...

On her way out, Joanna grudgingly leaned forward and softly pressed her lips to his cheek one last time, leaving an imprint of sticky pink lip gloss on his stubble. Ezra had to resist the urge to pull her back by the forearm and kiss her like he did to Aria. But he stood, solemnly and silently as he heard the soft clacking of Joanna's heels becoming quieter and quieter and she walked out of his apartment and down the hallway. Ezra hadn't even noticed the tears rushing down his face until he looked into the mirror. _You have really done it this time, Fitz_. His subconscious sneered.

* * *

Callie and Christian walked down the streets of Rosewood after school. The browning leaves danced across their shoes as they walked down the road and into The Brew. Christian had became greatly concerned over the gloomy look that had resided on Callie's face for a good part of the day. It was much unlike the bright, upbeat demeanor that usually resided inside the tiny girl.

"Why so sad, little one?" He asked gently as he placed an hand on her back. Callie turned her head quickly, looking up at Christian with her big, crystal ocean eyes.

"Nothing, really. Just having an off-day." Christian sighed and payed for both of their drinks, leading her over to a small booth.

"We all have those days," he whispered. "Talk about it, maybe it'll help you feel better?" Christian could just see worry and distress in his friend's eyes; and if he didn't know any better, he would try and pry it out of her. But knowing Callie, he knew it took awhile for her to open up.

"My mom," Callie started, her small thumb mindlessly tracing the lines on the to-go coffee cup lid, "she's just acting weird. Her eyes are always looking puffy and she never looks at me straight in the eyes. My dad neither, he never comes over anymore and he never looks at me during class." Christian gave her an odd look and leaned a bit closer to her.

"What do you mean during class?" Callie's eyes widened, she had let it slip. She quickly wracked her mind for an excuse or lie. Her mouth hung open like a fish with a hook snagged in its upper lip before she finally answered.

"Mr. Fitz is my dad, biologically. My parents aren't divorced or anything. Things are just...complicated," Christian still looked slightly confused but not in the least shocked. "I was born out of wedlock." He nodded and bit his lip, his bright green eyes trained on the intricate patterns on the table separating the two.

"Back to your problem, what do you think is going on? When did this weird behavior start?" Callie's shaped eyebrows furrowed and she cracked an odd smile.

"Okay Dr. Phil, well it all started after my mom came home from my dad's apartment about a week ago. I'm not sure what happened. Possibly a fight or something."

"Maybe talk to your mom or dad about it? See what happens?" Chris offered, he placed his middle and pointer finger under Callie's chin and made her look up at him. "Everything will be okay, I promise," Her eyes shimmered with a bit of hope, something that made Christian's infamous smile grow larger.

"And if not, you always have me."

* * *

"Mom? Are you home?" Callie knew damn well that her mom was home. Her car was in the driveway she had only seen her mother move around the house to cook dinner or use the facilities. She was constantly engrossed in her work, whatever it was now, and acted like she had no time for anything else.

"Yes, baby. In my room," Aria answered shortly. As Callie came closer, she could hear the soft clicking of the computer keys, but also a low sniffling, as if some was crying.

"Mom?" Callie poked her head through the door and saw Aria's glossy eyes reflect the light coming off her laptop as tears streamed down. "Mom, please, you're scaring me. Tell me what's wrong." Aria's fingers froze from the keyboard. She decided then that there was no reason why she shouldn't tell Callie. Her daughter was clung to her, obviously worried and saddened herself. It built a guilty little feeling inside Aria when she realized she had to hide the fact that Ezra was cheating on her. But the girl had to find out one way or another, and Aria would rather have her daughter find out from her.

"Bug, sit down. This is going to be a little hard to hear," Aria stated softly, gently turning her leather swivel chair around to face the bed Callie was sitting on.

"A few days ago...I caught your father kissing another woman."

* * *

Ezra couldn't take it anymore, not seeing Aria for so long was sickening and each day the guilt of kissing Joanna and holding her like that grew ever so larger. Seeing Callie nearly every day made his heart lurch. He knew that she had no idea about the heart wrenching, horrible things he did but for some reason, she didn't look the same. She looked... Sadder.

She still came in everyday with that boy, but who was he to judge? The boy made his little girl smile and that's all that mattered. Every other time of day he saw her, she looked different. As if a dark cloud was looming over her. Ezra's breath caught in his throat each time in class he wanted to catch her attention. He wanted to know what was wrong but at the same time, he had a secret locked up inside him that would shatter her heart even more.

Ezra had driven to the Montgomery household. He was currently sitting in the drivers seat of his parked Toyota with his hands tightly clenched around the leather wheel. He had no idea what he was going to say when Aria or Callie answered the door. What could he do? Would he confess to what he did and face the aftermath? Or pretend like nothing happened and move on with his seemingly paradise like life?

He stepped out of the silver vehicle and watched as the analogous reds and yellows bled over the horizon as the dark shades of night swallowed up the opposite half of the sky. Ezra gulped, washing down all his fear along with remaining saliva as he climbed up the short stone staircase. He shook his head, knowing he shouldn't be too nervous, even though his mind expected the worst. He brought a loose fist up to the door and rapped his knuckles against it.

The sight behind the door shocked him. The door slowly swung open, revealing his daughter. Only, he didn't look like her father to her. He was a monster in her eyes. Ezra observe the muddy streaks formed under her eyes and the broken, but equally angry expression clouding her face and judgement.

"Callie-"

"Mom doesn't want to see you. And neither do I." She quipped, blinking newly forms tears from her eyes.

"Wait, Cal-" Before Ezra could get a word in edgewise, Callie had already slammed the door in his face, leaving him utterly shocked and slightly confused.

* * *

**Well well well... Looks like trouble in paradise for our favorite couple. Will Aria and Callie listen to Ezra's side of the story or break ties? What will happen with Joanna (I can promise you that this won't be the last time we are hearing from her ;o) Anyway, hoped you enjoyed the story! Kisses!**


	17. Chapter 17

Aria sat on the edge of Callie's bed, silently stroking her small, sleeping daughter's chestnut hair.

"Callie, sweetheart. It's time to wake up..." She whispered softly as she shook Callie awake. Her daughter only slightly stirred before cracking open one eye.

"I can't go today, Mom." She mumbled before burrowing herself deeper into the duvet. As she turned over, Aria spotted two damp, inky spots on Callie's pillow case. Her heart immediately crumbled at the sight of her daughter hurting so badly. She knew seeing Ezra right now wouldn't be good for Callie. Neither would forcing her to sit in his presence for a whole hour.

Not saying anything, Aria gave Callie's head one last small pet and retreated back downstairs. She engulfed herself back into job searching. Even though she had a book wanting to be published, she couldn't depend on just that to keep her and Callie off the streets.

Aria's mind kept on wandering to Ezra. How did this happen? They went from nearly picture perfect family after Ella and Byron left, to this. Aria wanted so bad to just cry and ask him why. But there was honestly no excuse he could possibly make up to have him appear innocent. He was kissing another woman. It wasn't simply a peck on the lips or something small. No no, it was full on lips to lips; his hands squeezing her rounded sides. The replays of his betrayal in her head only made her more sick to her stomach.

The memories flashed her back to when she was sixteen. Turning that goddamn corner with Alison after escaping from loser Mona all those years ago and witnessing her father cheating on her mother. She was caught like a deer in headlights with Ali right behind her. It felt as if she couldn't move. Those few moments she was still just like with Ezra, she was just trying to wrap her head around everything. It didn't even seem real, like it couldn't have even happened. Those two men were the two people in her life that she loved and cared for with all her heart. Aria couldn't even begin to fathom the idea of them having the nerve to do that to her. Both the men she loved so dearly had broken her heart in the same way. Only at the moment, she knew that she was only able to eventually forgive one of them.

It wasn't just Aria who was hurting at the time from Byron's rendezvous. Ella and Mike both were also suffering from the betrayal. Even though Ella had forgiven Byron now, Aria knew deep down that the memories and pain she had from Byron, though now suppressed, were permanent. Just as Ella wasn't the only one hurting, neither was Aria. On top of Aria, Ezra had also hurt Callie; his own daughter. But for what exactly? Aria might never know.

Aria slammed her dimmed laptop close with a loud smack. Her teeth clenched and her body wracked with sobs urging to erupt. She knew she couldn't cry, she had done enough crying. But nothing in her mind made sense anymore. She couldn't focus without thinking about him. It felt was like a whole bowl of tangled spaghetti inside her mind that refused to untangle.

As Aria rose from her office chair, stretching to relieve some tension from her rigid body, and padded into the kitchen, she observed silently as Callie stabbed ruefully at her bowl of cereal with the spoon. Aria couldn't help but feel guilty. If she hadn't told Callie, she wouldn't be so depressed to the point where she couldn't go to school. And the reason she was so depressed was in that said school.

"Baby, are you alright?" Aria hated this sight. It hurt her almost as much as his disloyalty to see her daughter crumbling from learning the news.

"The real question is, are you?" Callie asked monotonously. Her eyes barely raising to meet Aria's. "I mean, you find out that the man you've been waiting to see for years since my conception was locking lips with some other woman. I can't even imagine." Her voice started to trail off as her sentence ceased.

"Callie..-"

"And all I'm left to think is, wow, if I was never born, or conceived even, you two wouldn't have had to be separated and he wouldn't be cheating and you wouldn't be upset. I just think that I'm complicating everything for everyone." Her empty blue eyes slackened to study the patters on the quartz counter top.

"No no no, Cal." Aria wasted no time encasing her daughter into her welcoming arms and hugging her close. "You didn't ruin anything for me or your father." Callie stayed silent, holding her mother's arm and leaning her head against Aria's chest.

"Then why won't the pain go away?" Callie whispered, her voice soft and shaky. Aria knew, as a mother, that this would be a question she would be unable to answer.

* * *

The dimly lit lap was the only thing illuminating Ezra's classroom as he graded a multitude of poorly written middle school essays. His mind often wandered off to his distorted but still open ended relationship with Aria and his daughter. He honestly was not surprised that Callie hadn't shown up to school that day. He was also a bit relieved. Ezra knew he would not be able to properly teach his fourth period with her piercing eyes boring into his very soul again like she did at the doorway.

Callie's words once she opened the door and saw his face took him by surprise. Her eyes were so cold and distant, it was almost as if she already knew what he had come to confess; but she couldn't have, right? The darkened, inky streaks that cascaded down her face said otherwise. But how could they have found out?

He wanted so badly to just explain everything to them. The sight of his daughter so torn just destroyed him. Just thinking about how Aria had taken whatever she knew nearly killed him. The hostile, distrusting look in Callie's eyes just chilled him to the bone. For a girl of her stature, she had one hell of a stare to make you feel weak in the knees.

Not being able to handle the guilt building up inside his strong conscious, Ezra snatched his phone from the corner of his desk and dialed Aria's number. He knew it was a slim chance that she'd answer but he could at least leave a message that she'd possibly listen to. It'd be better to call rather then show up uninvited again. Ezra prayed silently that she'd pick up as the phone rang... and rang... before Aria's melodious recorded voice rang through his ears.

"Aria, I know that it's not very likely that you're going to be listening to this. But I want you and Callie both to know that it's not what it looks like. It would mean the world to me if you let me explain everything, and I will. I will answer anything and everything you both have to ask. And if after that, you're still angry with me, then I'll have to live with that." There was a short pause, he didn't know what to say.

"I lov-" His voice was cut off suddenly by the dial tone alerting him that his time was up. Ezra silently cursed himself for his senseless rambling. He sullenly placed the phone down back on the desk and placed his hands over his face, rubbing his scratchy cheeks roughly. He shut off the only light source filling the room with illumination and packed up all his papers, hoping to God that eventually Aria would be able to forgive him for whatever she knew.

* * *

Aria gathered the mail from the box outside the house. The bitter wind chilled her body as the dark sky looked over. She was too wrapped up in her own mind to remember to check the mail in the afternoon. Her hope that a letter from one of the editors would appear jostled her into going outside. Aria shuffled all of the envelopes around in her hands. Bills... bills... until a clean white envelope with the name Jefferson Publishing Company printed on it. Not a second was spared before she ripped the envelope open, throwing the destroyed envelope against the counter.

_Nathaniel Elswood_

_Jefferson Publishing Company_

_36 Pinehurst Ave_

_Seattle, WA 98101_

_Dear Miss Aria Montgomery,_

_I was absolutely entranced by the first chapters of Somewhere Down The Road. I would really love to be able to help you in making this a published book. If you would be able to fly to Seattle for a week to discuss the story that would be marvelous. I look forward to hearing from you soon._

_Sincerely yours,_

_Nathaniel Elswood_

Aria was practically shaking by the time she finished the letter. She was absolutely shocked that a publishing company actually wanted to make her book appear on the shelves. She had received 3 disappointing rejection letters before this gem arrived in her mailbox. The tiny girl hurriedly sprinted to her laptop and with shaky fingers, typed up an email to Mr. Elswood, telling him she'd be in Seattle as soon as possible. She nabbed her cellular from inside her jeans pocket and dialed up Hanna.

"Han, Han, guess what?!" She squealed, her hands still shaking with excitement as she gripped the letter in her right hand.

"Umm... There's a 75% off sale at Urban Outfitters?" Hanna guessed lamely. Aria huffed through the phone before informing her blonde friend.

"No, even better. A publishing company accepted my book! They want to meet me in Seattle as soon as possible!" A loud gasp nearly shattered Aria's eardrums as Hanna squealed and cheered even louder than even Aria had.

"Who's going to watch Callie though?"

"Would you be able to? I know Spencer is off with Toby and Emily still in Canada..."

"Ooohh... Hun, I wish I could. But I have a meeting in Pittsburgh with the woman helping me run my boutique." Aria sighed, trying to think of people who could watch her. She knew Callie was responsible on her own but it worried her too much. Leaving her only child alone in the house while her mother is across the country. "Why not Ezra? I mean c'mon, he is her father." Hanna's cheerful voice brought her back to reality.

"Han... He kinda like the last person I want to see right now."

"I can drop her off at Ezra's if you can't?" Hanna suggested, dodging the urge to ask Aria why she wasn't happy with her Prince Almost Charming. Aria contemplated telling Hanna about Ezra cheating on her. And as much as she wanted to, she didn't want to inform the world that her relationship turned out to be a lie.

"Her and Ezra aren't exactly on good terms either."

"Aria, she needs to go with someone. I'm sorry I can't watch her all week but the girl needs someone to stay with and she needs to go to school. I can keep her till Tuesday, but then I got to go. I can drop her off then at Ezra's."

Aria didn't want to leave her like that. Callie would be so pissed at her for leaving her with him. But what choice did she have? Calling Ella and Byron down would be too much of a hassle an there was no one else available for watching her. After a long pause and Hanna's huffing, Aria gave her answer.

"Fine."

**Yeah I know the ending kinda odd but here. Woah, what will Cal's reaction be when she's forced to stay with Ezra? OKAY ENOUGH CRYPTIC SHIT. THE FINALE IS ON TONIGHT AND IM FLIPPING OUT. JESUS CHRIST I CAN'T WAIT. Oh, love you all. If I don't update soon, contact the police because I probably died from Ezria feels and just show feels. See you all next update! Kisses!**


	18. Chapter 18

**I can't believe I'm already on chapter 18 of this story! Oh, be sure to read the A/N at the end because it's kinda important. Enjoy the story guys! Y'all make my heart smile!**

"You're going to be good for Aunt Hanna, right?" Aria asked sternly, looking Callie straight in the eyes. The mother and daughter were standing by the staircase in the apartment building that Hanna resided. Aria knew that the next few days she'd be away wouldn't be the best for Callie, but she hoped to God that Callie would behave with Ezra.

"Am I ever bad?" Callie raised one of her shaped eyebrows, similar to Aria's. "I think I'm pretty docile if you ask me." Aria chuckled and smiled meekly, of course she knew that, but a little part in her mind told her that Callie's seemingly docile attitude towards things would change when Ezra came into the picture.

"I know, I know. I'm just making sure." Callie rolled her eyes and embraced her mother for the last time.

"I love you." Aria kissed Callie's forehead and stroked her hair softly.

"I'll see you soon, Bug." Aria retreated to her car and left Callie waiting in Hanna's apartment hallway. Callie tentatively knocked on the wooden door and took a step back as a tall, long haired man answered the door. He crossed his arms and looked at her strangely, studying her up and down.

"Do I have the wrong apartment?" Callie asked, clearly frightened. The man stayed silent and observed the small suitcase she had from afar.

"Callie!" She heard a familiar voice cheer. "Come in, come in. Caleb, don't be rude! Invite the girl in." Hanna had her hair tied up in a messy bun and had thick rimmed glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. Caleb stepped aside and cleared a pathway for Callie to come in.

"Nice to finally meet you, Callie." Caleb said as he made his way over to Hanna and kissed her on the cheek. Callie just gave a curt nod and awkwardly placed her bag by the door.

"Your uncle has been in San Francisco for most of the time you've been here. He just got back a few days ago." Hanna put an arm on Caleb's shoulder and brushed her fingers against his neck.

"It's nice to meet you too..." Callie stopped short as Caleb pressed his lips suddenly against Hanna's. Callie slowly backed away, clearly uncomfortable and feeling out of place, and retrieved her bag from the floor.

"Caleb... not now." Hanna mumbled, gently pushing Caleb away as he reluctantly pulled away. "Now is not the best time." She diverted her gaze to Callie, who stood oddly in the middle of the living room, clutching her suitcase. "C'mon Cal. I'll show you to the guest bedroom."

Shortly after, Hanna came back into the living room, shooting Caleb heated glares.

"Really, Caleb? The girl's having a hard enough time with her parents. She doesn't need to see us making out."

"Hanna, first of all, you said this was our weekend before you headed out, and second why did you then insist to Aria that there was no one else but Ezra who could watch Callie while you both are gone? Why not just let me watch her?" He asked. Hanna sighed, exasperated and grabbed her glass of wine from the counter.

"Because. I know Aria better than anyone. She's more stubborn than a cow."

"Bull."

"What?" Hanna asked, her face contorted into one of disgust and confusion.

"It's 'more stubborn than a bull'." Caleb corrected, smirking and crossing his muscly arms over his chest.

"Whatever, God you're just like Spencer! The point is, Aria won't listen to Ezra because she's too fucking stubborn! The only way to get to her is if her daughter isn't mad at Ezra anymore and listens to her." Caleb simply nodded, obviously impressed with Hanna being 'the fixer' in this highly screwed up situation.

"And how do you know Ezra's going able to fix this? And how do you know what's going on when Aria didn't tell you?

"Caleb, I watched the man practically drink his own weight in alcohol weekly. People start to trust you after things like that."

* * *

Tuesday rolled along all too quickly for both Callie and Hanna. The thing was though, only Hanna knew what was going to go down. Yes, weekend at Aunt Hanna's and Uncle Caleb's was nothing less of exciting, but like all good things, it had to come to an end. A dramatic, most definitely stressful end.

"Alright Callie, get your suitcase and collect your cat. We're going for a drive." Hanna mused, tenderly shaking Callie awake. She just weakly nodded, eyes still closed and still half asleep. Already dolled up in her most sophisticated but fashionable business outfit and high heels, Hanna sauntered out of the guest bedroom.

By the time Callie had rose from her bed, she was dressed in a tribal pattern knit sweater that was too big for her own good and dark skinny jeans. Caleb was still passed out on the couch, making Hanna snort and roll her eyes.

"What am I ever going to do with him?" She sighed, strolling over to the back of the couch and planting a soft kiss onto his cheek, leaving behind a pink lip imprint. "C'mon babe. Let's get a move on!" Hanna patted Callie's back and began to usher her to the car.

"Where are we going at this early in the morning?" Callie slipped into the passenger seat of the car with her suitcase placed down in her lap. The sun had barely peaked over the horizon line and it was still mostly dark out.

"Well, you need to go to school."

"I had no idea that required a weeks worth of clothes and all of my other essentials."

"Okay, just wait and see." Hanna started the car's engine and the blonde began to worry. This girl definitely had a smart mouth and a tendency to run away. Hanna didn't want to be held accountable if Callie bolted away from Ezra at first glance. As they came closer and closer to the building, she saw the girl tense up like a dog on it's way to the veterinarian's.

"Oh hell no." Callie muttered as she stared Hanna down.

"Oh hell yes. You are staying with your father to sort things out. You're the only way to fix things." Hanna didn't take her eyes off the road in front her and parked in the lot, holding Callie's wrist as she tried unsuccessfully to writhe out of the car.

"Why are you siding with him? Do you even know what he did to my mom?" She snapped, her crystal eyes blazing with sudden fury. She tried insufficiently to snake her way out of Hanna's surprisingly tight grip on her wrist.

"I know what really went down. You nor your mom knows the entire story and your mother is too stubborn to listen. Now let's go, you'll be late for school." Callie highly doubted that. It was barely 6:45 in the damn morning and Hanna was already shoving her out of her care. "I'm doing this with all my love in my heart for you and your mother. You'll thank me later." Hanna, still with her death hold on Callie's arm, lead her up the staircase of the apartments. Callie remembered running with Ezra through the rain to get to this apartment just a few months ago. The laughing and the smiling and when everything seemed to be so simple. That was when she was too naive to figure out the truth, and the clues were practically laid out right in front of her. A part of her just wanted to go back to that time.

Hanna knocked hastily on the door, thankfully loosening her grip. After a few moments of waiting and the sounds of things bumping into each other later, Ezra answered the door barely appropriately dressed and coffee mug in hand. "Uh, hi. C-come in." He stuttered, moving aside to let the two girls in.

"I won't be staying, Ezra. I got to be in Pittsburgh by nine." Hanna addressed, readying herself to leave. Callie placed her bag by the old door and Hanna kissed her head, muttering a few words Callie couldn't comprehend. She left before Ezra even had time to say goodbye, leaving the father and daughter in an awkward stare down.

"Don't expect me to-"

"I don't expect anything from you, Callie. What I did was wrong. It should have never happened," Ezra interrupted.

"Damn right." Callie muttered, letting Phantom out from his small cage. Ezra was in no position to reprimand her for her language. Simply, he walked over to his bed and nodded to it.

"I'm thinking you need somewhere to sleep.'

Callie's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Yeah no. Since I'm taking a wild guess that, that bed was the one I was conceived on. Thanks but no thanks." Stifling a chuckle at Ezra's reddening cheeks and widened eyes, Callie grabbed her suit case and sat on the leather couch." Don't tell me if I'm right or wrong, I don't want to know.

After composing himself, Ezra collected his work clothes and wordlessly headed into the bathroom to change. He knew this was going to be one hell of a week.

* * *

"I got Chinese food." Ezra announced, rustling a plastic bag filled with various Asian cuisine items in the air. Callie barely met eyes with him as she placed her phone down and grabbed a random white container from the bag. The two had sorta come to a truce while in the car on the way back from school that afternoon. It was more than uncomfortable to have Callie's eyes burning into the back of his head as he wrote on the chalkboard during the day.

"So how was the rest of school?" He asked, trying to relieve the awkward but blatantly obvious tension between them.

"Fine." Callie snipped. She made no move to engage in his petty conversation starter. The impatience building up inside Ezra was reaching to its end.

"Okay, I get that you are mad, but you don't know exactly what went down that night," Callie kept her eyes trained on the piece of broccoli she was pushing around her plate, clearly tuning him out. "Honestly, you have no right to be this angry with me when you don't know the whole story. I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to watch you. You're too stubborn to listen to what I have to say. You only listen to one side of the story."

Callie picked her eyes up and tightened her jaw up in annoyance. The two held each other's gazes as if in a staring contest. You would be able to hear a feather drop in Ezra's apartment from how completely silent it was. Ezra, being the first one to crack, partly because of being just simply tired from her incompetence, picked up his and Callie's plates and began to wash them, keeping his back to her.

Callie huffed unhappily and picked up Phantom from Ezra's bed, laying down on the plush leather couch and scratching his ears. "I don't want to hear your excuses."

Her accusation nearly made him want to crack the plate with his bare hand. He was growing sick and tired of her acting like this, so uncompromising . "Won't you at least give me a chance?" Ezra growled through gritted teeth. His hands curled around the edge of the counter, his shoulder hunched as he waited for her answer.

"Maybe."

* * *

**Yay! A fast update! I feel like I'm really getting back into the swing of things and that makes me happy. Sorta on a sad note, since all of a sudden, I had an influx of ideas for multi-chapter stories that I really want to write. Because of that, i'm going to try and speed this story up so I am not held back by this one. I WILL be finishing this so don't worry. But look out for those other stories in the future because I think they're going to be good. I love you all! Don't forget to review! Kisses!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Holy shit! We're already 19 Chapters into this story. I hope you guys are still enjoying it and interested because I don't know. Anyway, thank you for all of you who put up with my irregular updating and constant writer's block. I love all of you!**

"You are not just going to sit there all day." Ezra said sternly as he stood next to the television. Callie just gave him an angry glare, something Ezra was accustomed to by now. Callie hadn't given him the time of day to explain himself yet. He only had three days till Aria came back, and he knew then it'd be up to Aria if she wanted to forgive him.

"What do you suppose I do, Dad?" Callie asked with a mockingly innocent voice, meeting her blue eyes with his.

"Something. Just because there's no school today, doesn't mean you get to lay around." Callie simply just rolled her eyes, making Ezra's anger level heighten. She had been acting like this the past few days. She was snarky, rebellious, insubordinate, and just plain irritating. After a few tension filled moments, Callie shot up from the couch and grabbed her small bag.

"I'm going out."

"Where?" Ezra asked, crossing his arms and stepping beside the door as Callie opened it slightly.

"_Out._" She growled through clenched teeth before slipping out of the crack between the door frame.

She wasn't exactly running away, even though she was planning to before she even left his apartment. Besides, the air was cold and she had no where to go. It was plausible for her to just go back home, but then Ezra would find her and stay there with her. The only thing she wanted was to be wherever he wasn't.

The air was cold but not biting cold. The trees were stricken bare as Callie walked through a park full of kids younger than her. They all squealed with happiness as they hung from monkey bars or whatever it was that they were doing.

The park wasn't too far from the apartment, Callie could see it from where she was now curled up on a branch that was hanging low on a sturdy willow tree. From her bag she pulled out a small journal and a pen. Much like her mother, Callie grew up around abundances of books and used them to her advantage. She had already known how to read at a first grade level when she entered kindergarten, impressing her teachers. It was no surprise that she had a knack for writing alongside Aria. Only, she didn't have dreams to be a writer. It was just a hobby.

Naturally, Callie wrote the entries of her journal in Icelandic. It was her second language and no one probably knows how to speak it in Rosewood, which was beneficial for when wanting privacy and living with nosy people. Underneath the leather binding and cover, Callie wrote about her daily struggles of fitting into the new town, rambles about the annoying people in her class, newly developed vents about her parents, and just chapters of various thought up stories to never receive a proper ending.

"Hey, Cripple." In the middle of her seventh chapter of her vents, which she cleverly dubbed _'The Chronicles of My Fucking Annoying Father_', an all too familiar voice rang through the leafy canopy that covered her small body from the rest of the park. Callie recognized none other then Daniel Kahn at the bottom of the tree, taunting her. Even though her leg had fully healed, Daniel still continued to call her 'Cripple', claiming that the nickname fit her nicely.

"Don't you have other people to go make miserable?" Callie grumbled monotonously, blatantly ignoring the boy as he kicked the tree and tried to grab her attention, unsuccessfully.

"If you don't come down here, I'll have to come up there and drag you down. You don't want that." He threatened, frustrated that he wasn't getting a reaction out of her.

"Try me." She deadpanned, not taking her eyes off of her journal as she wrote. Foolishly letting her arm hang over the edge, almost like bait, Daniel pulled harshly on her loosely hanging limb, sending her out of the tree and on the dirt ground.

"I warned you," He said with a large smirk before nabbing the leather journal that had fallen out of her grasp. "Well well well, what do we have here." He flipped through the pages as Callie got up, brushing the dirt from her jeans.

"Have fun reading in another language." She remarked, attempting to grab the book from his large hands. Daniel groaned in anger as he swiped the book away and tried to find a page that he could understand. After reaching unpublished, dirtied pages, Daniel broke off in a sprint towards the large pond in the middle of the park.

"Hey! What are you doing!" Callie cried as she tried to catch up with him. Daniel didn't answer, but as he reached the muddy edge of the pond, he launched the journal into the middle of the water. He turned around and smiled, obviously satisfied with the reaction he was getting. Callie stood there, completely still and shocked. She had worked through that journal for /months/ and all of the pages were now soaked and 5 feet under.

As if every bit of good judgement was erased from her brain, Callie pounced on a currently smug Daniel and wrestled him to the ground, angrily screaming in his face. The two tussled on the ground, muttering profanities and fighting before Callie felt a strong hand grab a handful of her sweater and yank her off Daniel.

"Thanks, Uncle Noel," Daniel coughed. Noel. Where had Callie heard that name before? The man holding her snorted gruffly and helped Dan up. He practically carried Callie by the scruff of her shirt over to a table and began to lecture her, to which Callie internally rolled her eyes. She tuned his lecture out and studied his features. This 'Noel' guy was a large man, taller and more muscular than her dad. He had large amounts of stubble on his cheeks and lower face. His eyes that trained angrily on her's were a dark green almost brown color. Looking more or less like an older version on Dan.

"Hey!" _Oh perfect timing,_ "Let go of her!" Ezra marched up right in front of Noel, protectively grabbing his daughter from Noel's meaty hands and staring at him directly. Even if Ezra was a bit shorter than Noel, he was still older and stronger.

"This one's your's, Fitz? No wonder. I caught her wrestling my nephew to the ground. Gave him that bruise there." Noel said, motioning to Daniel's now purple cheek.

Ezra remained silent, staring down the taller man as he had his hand on Callie's shoulder. Of course of all people, it had to be Noel Kahn who found his daughter fighting a boy. Noel very well might have been a reason Ezra was almost sent to jail. It was an understatement to say that he detested the man.

"He pulled me down from the tree and threw my book into the pond. He deserved everything he got." Callie remarked, crossing her dirtied arms over her chest. Daniel made an attempt at leaping towards Callie, in hopes to knock her to the ground again. Noel silently rejected his wish by shoving him back and growling lowly.

"Hey, your dead on Thursday when the whole school finds out your Fitz's kid. I can ruin you, Montgomery." Dan said from behind his uncle's protective arm. Hearing the surname made Noel's infamous smirk make an appearance.

"Montgomery? Well, we now know where she her feisty attitude now don't we." Noel stayed silent for another moment before taking in a obviously exaggerated breath. "Twelve years ago, Montgomery left for Iceland. No one knew why. You're around 12 and his kid," He said, pointing to Ezra, who was fuming with anger. "You got that slut pregnant, didn't you Fitz?" His eyes lit up with realization and mischief, knowing that Aria was a weak spot when it came to Ezra. Now both Ezra and Callie were furious, Ezra resisted the urge to disembowel Noel and gouge out his eyes. Callie had never seen her father as angry as he was now. His stone cold, enraged expression was something she had never seen on his face before. She could feel his stomach tighten against her back as Ezra pressed her up against his chest.

In the midst of the silence, Ezra balled up a fist and swung directing into Noel's meaty cheek. He then grabbed Callie's hand and rushed her back to the building. As soon as they reached the apartment, Ezra burst into laughter. To which Callie responded by suddenly laughing along. Neither of them knew why they were laughing so hard. Maybe because Callie nearly beat the shit out of Dan, or because of the shocked shitless expression both Kahn's had when Ezra hit Noel.

"To your mother..." Ezra's laughing made him start to wheeze. "This never happened." Ezra said as he tried to calm down his laughing.

"Deal," Callie croaked as she took a large, shaking breath. Both of them tried to stop themselves from laughing as their smiles quivered.

As silly as it sounded, in this situation, a little violence fixed everything.

After their laughing fit. Ezra and Callie sat on the couch. Both of them still basking in the aftermath of what had gone down moments before. For once, the apartment was not filled with a tense silence, but just silence.

"Hey, remember the last time you and me were on this couch." Ezra asked as he put his arm around Callie's shoulders.

"That sentence sounded a little wrong, but I know what you mean. To answer your question appropriately, yeah. Why?" Callie chuckled.

"Because if my memory stirs me correct, we were playing a game where we got to know each other, and I have a question." Ezra stared up at the ceiling as he scratched his stubbly chin and spoke.

"Shoot."

"I want to know your favorite movie."

"Easy, The Lion King." Ezra stared at her oddly and claimed he had never heard the movie. After some mindless bickering and complaints Callie found a way to get the movie onto the Ezra's television. The two sat on Ezra's bed, a little bit apart, and started the movie.

* * *

It had come to the part that Callie had named, _'the saddest part of my childhood, besides of course you not being here'_. Ezra was sorta confused until he watched further. The music was getting intense and the scenes became more serious instead of whit filled jokes and colorful animation.

_"Dad? Dad come on. You gotta get up. Dad we gotta go home..."_

Ezra felt Callie get closer to him, even burrowing into his chest as the scene played. He wrapped his arms around her protectively and kissed her head. After a few more silent moments, Callie grabbed the remote next to her and paused the movie.

"Do you want to stop? If your-" Ezra started, letting Callie out of his arms in case she was uncomfortable with being so close to him after being so angry with him. Callie stopped him from speaking and looked at him directly with the most serious look he'd ever seen on her face.

"Dad, I'm ready to listen."

**I'm a little disappointed with the Callie and Ezra movie scene because I'm so tired but I wanted to get this up and yeah. Please don't forget to review because I deeply cherish each one. Thank you! Kisses!**


	20. Chapter 20

**I probably say this every chapter but, OMG 20 chapters! Thank you all of you loyal readers who continue to enjoy the story. If any of you enjoy my writing (*cricket*) read my story that I'm currently working on _Hell Bound._ Don't forget to review and rate! Thank you!**

"Y-you are?" Ezra had hoped with everything inside of him that this moment would come. Finally, she was allowing him to make amends with the two of the most valued women in his life, and hopefully, he'd be able win Aria back.

"Yeah, I realized after today that it's kinds hard to stay mad at you. Also because I realized how immature I was being about the whole thing," Callie admitted bashfully. If Ezra knew one thing about Callie, it was that she _hated_ admitting she was wrong.

"So, uh." Ezra situated himself into a more comfortable position on the bed and folded his hands. "Where do you want me to start?"

"The beginning?" Callie retorted as she laid back down on her side on to the bed, expecting one hell of a story to make up for all her heartbreak.

"Thank you, Sherlock." Ezra rolled his eyes before beginning his explanation.

Ezra started by explaining his situation with using alcohol as a crutch for his emotional pain when losing Callie and Aria. Callie was, to say the least, shocked at the fact that her father used to be a raging alcoholic, but in a way, understood from an adult standpoint.

By the time Ezra started talking about the real problem at hand, Joanna, he was fighting to keep tears at bay. He explained lightly about how a part of him would always owe her for what he had done for him and how much she sacrificed.

You could tell a lot about a person just through their eyes. They are the window to the soul as they say. Ezra could almost as easily see the reactions in Callie's eyes flip from slightly angry, to pity and sadness. It was hard to have to explain love to someone so vulnerable to it; some one who you might assume would take the phrase "I love you" lightly. Callie could see through Ezra's eyes also. The sadness and different emotions she could see in his eyes as he retold each story to her. It was heartbreaking to know how much hurt he had felt from losing Aria and herself.

"But I promise you, I never meant to hurt any of you." Ezra pleaded as he took Callie's smaller hands in his. "I was planning on just pretending it never happened, but the guilt from it all got the best of me. W-when I came over that day and you slammed the door in my face, I was going to come clean because I didn't want to be feeling horrible every time I saw you two." He stuttered, slipping up on a word or two as he tried to collect his scrambled thoughts. His emotions had gotten the best of him and he just let the tears fall.

"I love you, you and your mother. I love you both more than you'll ever know." He wiped the few fallen tears from his cheeks and took a deep breath.

Callie just simply nodded when he had finished speaking. She tried to process all the information and make sense of it. She cursed inwardly as she noticed it was only around four in the afternoon and there was already an awkward air surrounding the apartment.

Ezra tilted his head slightly and tried to grab back the attention of his daughter. "Are we okay?"

Callie broke her focus on the navy blue wall behind Ezra and nodded rapidly. "Yeah, I need some time to think about this as a whole, but we're okay."

The next few hours were weird to say the least. Most of the awkwardness had subsided, but there were still lingering feelings of oddness felt by both of them.

Ezra was seated at his desk, grading the essays he had collected the day before the teacher's convention he had rejected to attend, mainly because last years was less than exciting and he had a teenager to watch. Phantom had happily made a comfortable seat on top of the freshly graded papers. He watched eagerly as Ezra's red pen flew around the page as he wrote with it or twirled it around in his hand. Periodically, after watching the mysterious object float around him, Phantom would swipe and bat at the pen, hoping to earn some attention from Ezra.

Callie was laying in the typical teenager position on the leather couch, an Ernest Hemingway novel that her father recommended in hand. Ezra would turn his head around slightly to watch her, as if she'd suddenly disappear. She probably noticed but didn't acknowledge the fact that she knew he was watching. The unmistakable sound of the crisp paper page being turned hadn't filled the room in a while. The book was still in her hand as it had been, but her wolfish blue eyes seemed to be somewhere else. Ezra assumed she was still analyzing the things he had said earlier, but he wouldn't know.

He had to reject himself the authority to ask her what was wrong, knowing she needed time to think about the things she had learned, or even better, what she was going to say to her mother when they reunited in three short days. It was no surprise that Ezra was nervous for Aria to come back, not knowing what emotions she was going to be full of.

"What are you looking at?" Callie's lucid voice pierced through his focus. He realized that he had been staring at her as he was thinking.

"N-nothing, continue reading." Ezra said as he turn back around, heat filling his pale, stubbly cheeks. When he was looking straight ahead again, he noticed that Phantom had made a happy sitting place on top of the paper he was currently grading, hoping to gain Ezra's full attention. The kitten stared up at Ezra with its big golden eyes as it's tail swished in a bemused manner.

"What do you think you're doing, huh?" Ezra said in a babyish voice as he scratched underneath the cat's chin and attempted to pick the animal up.

Callie simply chuckled at her father's goofiness before her cell phone buzzed against the wooden coffee table parallel to the couch. She swiftly snatched it off table and opened the message.

_Hey short stack, wanna meet up by the track later? - C_

Of course, it was no shock that the sender of said message was Christian. He, besides Aria and Ezra (who was still technologically challenged) was the only one who ever called or texted her. Callie quickly replied and jumped up to grab his infamous red hockey sweatshirt from her suitcase.

"Need to be somewhere?" Ezra asked as he notice his daughter scurrying around the tiny apartment after her phone rang.

"Uh, yeah actually. I'm going out, I'll be back soon." Callie slipped her phone into the large front pocket of the sweatshirt and walked over to plant a chaste kiss on Ezra's scratchy cheek.

"See you soon, then." He replied lowly as she left.

* * *

"So how'd stuff with your dad going? Still in a rough patch?" Christian asked as the two of them circled the high school's track for the billionth time. It was, in a way, their secret but not so secret hideaway. It was out in the open and everyone could see them, but rarely anyone ever came to the track, besides the occasional elderly couple in track suits.

"Better actually. Things are still a little blurry between us but for the most part things are okay." She stuffed her hands into the pockets of the warm sweatshirt and started with Christian up the metal bleachers to the top. The bleachers made a loud clanging sound every time the soles of their shoes hit against the hollow metal.

"Well that's good. You and your stubborn little attitude." Christian quipped, flashing a small toothy smile. Callie just shook her heard and snorted as the two of them leaned against the thin but sturdy ledge attached to the bleachers to keep them from falling. The two of them often spent their time up on the bleachers, either watching sunsets, talking about shit, or singing random songs into reckless abandon.

Callie was more thankful for Chris than he'd ever realize. Yes, she'd admit that he was a little too self confident and cocky at some times, but she had no idea where she'd be without him. He taught her to live and love life. She did, in a way, love him. But love to her just didn't have a set in stone definition. Love was different for separate people. It wasn't something you said to prove it, it's something you felt to prove it.

"So your mom's coming back soon, hm? Happy about that?" Christian asked as he stared up at the iridescent sky.

"Yeah, I'm a little nervous to be blatantly honest. What if my mom doesn't forgive him?" Callie leaned into Chris closer, inhaling the fresh scent of his cologne and cinnamon. It wasn't an overwhelming scent of cologne like most boys in her school, whom she guessed practically marinated themselves in the stuff based on the horrendous smell that lingered everywhere they went.

"Your mom did not wait twelve years for your dad, just to throw it away like that. They'll be fine." He wrapped his jacket clad arm around her waist and brought her closer.

"But-" Callie started. Chris squatted down to her level and looked her straight in the eyes.

"But nothing, short stack. You were able to forgive your father for whatever he did. I'm sure if you can, your mom can." After a silence of looking into each other's irises, Christian stood back up and continued staring mindlessly at the discoloring sky.

* * *

The three days they had left seemed to zip by. They only had a few hours until they were to pick up Aria from the airport. It probably hadn't occurred to Aria or Ezra that she needed someone to pick her up, seeing that all her friends were elsewhere.

Callie noticed Ezra worriedly pacing inside the kitchen and running his hands through his hair as she packed her clean clothes and other items back into her bag. She placed her suitcase by the door and leaned her hip against the island.

"What am I supposed to do? It's almost a half hour drive back to Rosewood from the airport! D-do I say hi because it's obvious she won't be happy with me." He folded his arms underneath his armpits and stared at the small girl as she tried to stifle her giggle.

"Mom's plane ride lands in an hour. We better get going." Callie retorted as she pointed to Ezra who was still only in pajamas.

The ride back from the airport was filled with a rigid silence. Aria barely acknowledged Ezra's presence the moment she laid eyes on the two. She only nodded a terse greeting after Ezra tried to say hello.

Anyone within 10 feet could tell that Ezra was practically sweating from all the pressure in the car. His hands were tightly curled around the leather steering wheel, squeezing it so tightly that his knuckles were a whitish shade. His back was straight against the seat as if a board was holding his in place. He made no move at all to make conversation or take his eyes off of the road.

Aria was in the passenger seat, switching between picking at her freshly manicured nails and looking out of the window. Her arms were folded and she bounced her interconnected legs ever so often. She had made it very clear, even without words, that she was in no mood to discuss anything with him at the moment.

Callie was obviously in the backseat of Ezra's car, basking in the awkwardness of the whole situation. She was too scared to even make a single noise. Her phone was placed in her lap as she scrolled through her old texts and tried to contact Christian to relieve some stress from herself. No one had said a word since they got into the car.

She knew that this would be more difficult than she had originally thought.

**This chapter, like most, was kinda bad at the end and i'm sorry. Again, like i've said, I _REALLY _need to work on getting better with endings. But anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and the next one will be up soon! Kisses!**


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